North American Mobile Operators and Consumers Reaping The Benefits of 4G Investment; Mobile Industry Contributing Three Per Cent to Regional GDP
Atlanta: The North American mobile market is one of the most advanced and successful in the world, according to the latest report in the GSMA's Mobile Economy series. The study, Mobile Economy North America 2014 , which was released at the GSMA Mobile 360 Series-North America event today, found that mobile subscribers in the North American region1 are taking advantage of the latest mobile technologies and innovations at lower retail rates than other comparable global markets. It also finds that North American mobile operators have been able to grow revenue at a time when mobile revenue in Europe and other developed markets has been in decline.
The North American mobile industry is established as a major contributor to the regional economy, serving over a quarter of a billion citizens and delivering high-speed mobile connectivity to huge swathes of the population, said Michael O'Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. Our latest Mobile Economy report reveals how the widespread deployment of 4G networks in North America is creating a virtuous circle, stimulating adoption of new mobile technologies, applications and services that are unlocking new revenue streams for operators and enriching the mobile experience for consumers.
Leading the Global Move to 4G
Key to the success of the North American mobile market in recent years has been ongoing investment in 4G networks. The first commercial 4G-LTE network was launched in the region in Q3 2010. By the end of 2013, the US had 85 million 4G mobile connections, making it the world's single largest 4G market. Canada was the ninth-largest market with 2.7 million 4G connections (see table).
Top 4G Markets by Connections, 2013 (millions)
Source: GSMA Intelligence
1 USA
85.0
2
Japan
43.9
3
South Korea
29.4
4
Australia
6.5
5
Germany
4.2
6
France
3.8
7
Sweden
3.3
8
UK
3.1
9
Canada
2.7
10
Russia
2.3
Total mobile connections (SIM cards) in the region stood at 341 million at the end of 2013, excluding M2M connections. However, the number of unique mobile subscribers (individuals) was significantly lower at 250 million, reflecting the high levels of multiple SIM and device ownership in the region.
4G accounted for approximately one in four of the total mobile connections in North America in 2013, the highest proportion of any global region.
Close to 97 per cent of the entire population in North America lived within the coverage range of 4G networks at the end of 2013, also one of the highest levels globally. Build-out of 4G networks has occurred at a more rapid rate than the earlier move to 3G. Whilst it took around four years for 3G coverage to reach 95 per cent of the population, 4G took just two and a half years.
Creating the Virtuous Circle'
Mobile subscribers in North America are using significantly higher volumes of mobile services compared to users in other developed markets, both in terms of traditional mobile services (voice/SMS) and mobile data services. On a per connection basis, time spent on voice calls is five times as high as in Europe, while over twice as many SMS are sent. Data from Cisco indicates that North America in 2013 accounted for over a quarter of global mobile data volumes2, despite the region having just over five per cent of total mobile connections.
Local operators have been able to successfully monetise mobile data growth, notably via the introduction of tiered pricing, shared data plans and attractive device portfolios. These trends have allowed operators in the region to deliver healthy revenue growth over recent years, at a time when many operators in other developed regions have seen revenue trends in decline. In the period between 2008 and 2013, mobile revenue in North America grew by 4.7 per cent a year (CAGR). This was above the global average of 4.5 per cent, and well ahead of Europe, where revenue declined at a CAGR of 3 per cent per annum.
A Growing Contributor to the North American Economy
The North American mobile industry (both directly and indirectly) accounted for around 3 per cent of regional gross domestic product (GDP), according to the report, equivalent to around US$550 billion3. This figure is expected to increase to around US$620 billion by 2020. In addition, there were around 1.1 million direct jobs supported by the mobile ecosystem across the region, with a further 380,000 supported indirectly. The mobile ecosystem also made a direct contribution of over US$63 billion in public funding in 2013, even before considering regulatory and spectrum fees.
A Supportive Regulatory Framework
North America's mobile industry has benefited from a generally supportive regulatory backdrop that has played an important role in its strong performance in recent years. For example, the US market saw the early allocation of digital dividend spectrum in 2008, which was the key factor in establishing its 4G leadership.
Regulators have also looked more favourably on market consolidation between operators than has been the case in other developed markets. For example, between 2003 and 2012, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved 20 significant mergers and other mobile licence transactions, with a total value of US$288 billion.
North America is at the centre of a new and rapidly developing mobile ecosystem, continued O'Hara. The region is playing a leading role in the development of new services and applications that have seen global take-up and is also a driving force in key areas such as digital commerce and the Internet of Things.
To access the full report please visit: http://northamerica.gsmamobileeconomy.com/.
-ENDS-
Click here to view the infographic
About the GS
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
North American Mobile Operators and Consumers Reaping The Benefits of 4G Investment; Mobile Industry Contributing Three Per Cent to Regional GDP
