According to the CTIA report, Americans used more than 100 trillion MBs of wireless data in 2023
In the latest installation of its annual report, CTIA found that demand for wireless data in the U.S. “skyrocketed” in 2023, with Americans using more than 100 trillion MBs, representing the largest single-year increase ever recorded. For reference, 2023 saw a 36% — or 26 trillion MBs — increase over 2022. According to CTIA, this dramatic increase in data usage is directly tied to the “increasingly central” role of 5G.
“5G is increasingly embedded into the way Americans live and work,” continued CTIA. “Today, nearly 40% of all wireless devices — from phones to smartwatches, IoT devices, and more — have a 5G connection, a 34% increase over 2022. This growth helped propel the total number of wireless connections to 558 million, more than 1.6 wireless connections for every American.”
Last year, 216 million active 5G devices and 558 million 5G wireless connections were reported.
A notable 5G use case with a strong hold in the U.S. is 5G broadband. In the report, CTIA found that 95% of net new broadband subscribers chose 5G home service over the past two years. “[A]nd importantly, 1 out of 5 net 5G home adds were entirely new home broadband subscribers, underscoring 5G’s role in helping to close the digital divide,” the Association added.
In 2023, wireless operators and their partners invested $30 billion, and to date, carriers have invested $705 billion. CTIA noted that $190 billion this total investment was spent since 5G’s launch in 2018, bolstering the Association’s claim that 5G is the main driver behind the astronomical increase in Americans’ data usage. Among other things, these investments have gone towards building out the additional cell cites needed for adequate network density. The CTIA report found that by the end of 2023, there were 432,469 operational cell sites across the U.S.
