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Wireless Industry Reports Record Subscriber Additions

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2005 - 4:04am.
San Francisco - The wireless industry on Wednesday reported the largest one-year addition of new subscribers since first offering commercial service in 1983, adding 25.2 million subscribers for the year ending in June. Steve Largent, the president of wireless industry association CTIA, said that the U.S. wireless penetration rate of roughly 65% points to more growth in the future. "When you look at countries in other parts of the world with penetration rates exceeding 100%, it's only logical to predict that subscriber growth in the U.S. is far from over," said Largent. CTIA's semi-annual survey also reported a sharp increase in SMS traffic and revenue from data services. In the month of June alone, more than 7.2 billion SMS wireless messages were sent, up from 2.8 billion the previous year. Revenue from text messaging and SMS traffic was $1.24 billion, up 154%.
tags: Subscriptions | Reports | Record | Wireless Industry |

Wireless Industry Creating Ratings System for Cell Phone Media Content

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 25, 2005 - 7:24am.
Washington -- In a move to head off potential scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the wireless industry is developing its own content ratings system that would apply to all multimedia content delivered to cell phones, Reuters reported. The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), an industry trade group, said it is working with the RIAA, MPAA and Entertainment Software Ratings Board, which assigns video game ratings, to come up with a content classification system -- partly in response to the roll-out of adult wireless content from providers like Playboy, Hustler and Brickhouse Mobile. "The adult side of things has really kick-started it," CTIA vice president Mark Desautels told Reuters. "As indecency becomes an increasing point of interest on the part of policymakers, we really need to be proactive about it… We want to develop more sophisticated filtering tools, so that the ability to filter or to block certain types of content will be another part of the suite of services that carriers seek to provide." The CTIA aims to create a "restricted" category for content not appropriate for those under 18 by the middle of 2005, with a more detailed system coming within a year.
tags: Wireless Industry | Ratings System | Cell Phone Media |