WIRELESS AND MOBILE NEWS

The Nielsen Company's new figures show that the typical U.S. mobile subscriber now sends and receives more SMS text messages than they do mobile telephone calls. 

As of Q2 2008, a typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends or receives 357 text messages per month, compared to placing or receiving 204 phone calls.  Though the number of calls has remained relatively steady, the number of text messages is up 450% from just two years prior.  Q2 2008 was the second consecutive quarter in which the average number of text messages sent was significantly higher than the average number of phone calls placed.

Average Number of Monthly Calls vs. Text Messages Among U.S. Wireless Subscribers
	Calls	Texts
Qtr 1, 2006	198	65
Qtr 2, 2006	216	79
Qtr 3, 2006	221	85
Qtr 4, 2006	213	108
Qtr 1, 2007	208	129
Qtr 2, 2007	228	172
Qtr 3, 2007	226	193
Qtr 4, 2007	213	218
Qtr 1, 2008	207	288
Qtr 2, 2008	204	357
Source: Nielsen Mobile

The insights come from Nielsen Mobile, a service of The Nielsen Company, which directly measures billing activity through an opt-in panel of more than 50,000 personally liable, postpaid U.S. mobile lines across the top four carriers.  Through the billing data, Nielsen reports on everything from how many text messages subscribers send to what games and ringtones they download.

In addition to showing the trend of texts compared to calls, Nielsen's research shows that the typical U.S. teen mobile subscriber (ages 13-17) now sends or receives 1,742 text messages per month (compared to making or receiving 231 mobile phone calls).

Average Number of Monthly Calls vs. Text Messages Among U.S. Wireless Subscribers by Age (Q2 2008)
	Calls	Texts
All Subs	204	357
12 & Under	137	428
Ages 13-17	231	1742
Ages 18-24	265	790
Ages 25-34	239	331
Ages 35-44	223	236
Ages 45-54	193	128
Ages 55-64	145	38
Ages 65+	99	14
Source: Nielsen Mobile