Survey Shows Sharp Increases in Mobile Data, Growth in 5G Home Broadband

On September 10, CTIA released its 2024 Annual Survey. The Survey Highlights report is available online. It shows the strong growth in mobile wireless connections, data usage, cell sites, and 5G Home connections during the year 2023.  

CTIA reported that wireless data traffic in the U.S. grew, as U.S. wireless networks supported 100 trillion MB of traffic last year, up from the nearly 74 trillion MB from the year before. Additionally, nearly 40% of wireless devices were 5G devices, for 216 million total active 5G devices in 2023, and the 558 million total wireless connections were up from 523 million from the year prior. Also, the total number of cell sites in the U.S. grew to 432,469 – up 24% from 2018. This continued growth was supported by annual wireless investment totaling $30 billion in 2023. Regarding 5G Home Broadband – or fixed wireless access (FWA) services – CTIA reported: "Over the past two years, 95% of net new broadband subscribers chose 5G home service—and importantly, 1 out of 5 net 5G home adds were entirely new home broadband subscribers." More stats are contained in the 2024 Annual Survey Highlights.

 

My July 30, 2023, blog post spotlighted CTIA's 2023 Annual Survey Highlights.

 

To fully realize the benefits of 5G connections, more spectrum will need to be available, especially licensed spectrum for commercial wireless uses. In January 2024, Free State Foundation President Randolph May published "Communications Law and Policy Priorities for 2024." One of those priorities is to "Reopen the Spectrum Pipeline and Act to Fill It." As FSF President May explained in a Media Advisory from March of this year, one constructive proposal for doing that is the Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2024 (S.3909).

 

Also, legislation for streamlining and speeding up permit processes for wireless infrastructure construction would help foster continued growth in wireless services and improve as well as increase connections for Americans. My blog post from August 7 identified one measure worth considering, the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act (S.4281), which is intended to help ensure the timely processing of permits for building new wireless infrastructure on federal lands.