WASHINGTON-Cellular subscriber growth in the United States increased dramatically this year following a slowdown last year, according to a study issued by The Strategis Group.
The telecommunications consulting firm said the increase was due to increased competition, including lower prices, increased marketing and distribution and better services. Total net additions for the wireless industry in 1997, including personal communications services subscribers, is expected to surpass 13.2 million, said Strategis.
“Thus far, PCS is the best thing that ever happened to cellular,” said Elliott Hamilton, vice president of U.S. Telecom at Strategis. “The cellular industry has revitalized itself with lower pricing plans, better marketing and wider scale digital rollout.”
Hamilton noted that beginning next year, the cellular industry most likely will begin to experience some of the negative effects of PCS competition, namely increasing churn and decreasing market share.
The average cellular subscriber, according to the report, is about 41 years old with a real household income of $61,000. The majority of cellular subscribers-60 percent-are woman, 68 percent are married and 53 percent did not have any children under the age of 18. The report also noted that there has been an increase in the percentage of users in the 18-to-24-year-old age group.
Also in its “U.S. Cellular Marketplace: 1997” report, Strategis predicts that more than 61 million new cellular and PCS customers will sign up for service during the next five years, bringing the total number of subscribers to nearly 118 million and a penetration rate of 42 percent in 2002. In order to accommodate this increase, the company forecasts that the number of cell sites needed in the United States will more than double to 100,000 by 2002.
Of the 64 million projected cellular subscribers in 2002, about 43 percent will use Advanced Mobile Phone Service networks, while 37 percent will use Time Division Multiple Access and 20 percent will use Code Division Multiple Access networks.
European market
On the other side of the Atlantic, the European cellular market is expected to expand to 157 million subscribers by 2002, for a penetration rate of about 20 percent, according to Strategis’ “European Cellular/PCS Markets: 1997,” study.
Germany and Italy each will hold a market share of 15 percent, said the study, followed by the United Kingdom and France, each with 12 percent market share.
