2010 North American wireless industry survey

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Published annually by PwC's Entertainment, Media and Communications practice, the 2010 North American wireless industry survey provides a framework to understand the current and emerging trends in the communications sector and addresses general financial accounting and reporting policies and practices of wireless telecommunications service providers. The results of this survey reflect the participation of eight U.S. wireless operators and three Canadian wireless operators.
 

Highlights from the survey

• Continued demand for new products and services—especially in the areas of data, the importance of service quality, and the nascent development toward fourth-generation (4G) technologies—has prompted companies to continue investing despite the challenging economy.
• Over the past two years, the average percentage of postpaid subscribers receiving paper invoices fell from 81% in the 2008 survey to 57% in the 2010 survey, while the average percentage of subscribers receiving electronic invoices increased from 6% in the 2008 survey to 14% in the 2010 survey.
• Average monthly minutes of use per prepaid subscriber were 757 in the current survey, an increase of 14% from the 2009 survey and up 181% since 2006.
• Smartphone sales, as a percentage of revenue, increased for carriers with revenue over $5 billion from 19% in 2009 to 38% in 2010.
• Smartphone or BlackBerry-based email and Web or Internet access from handsets accounted for 25% of prepaid data revenue in the 2010 survey for the responding carriers--a significant jump from 1% as reported in the 2009 survey.