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Smartphone data usage up 89%, cost per MB down 46% in U.S., study says

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Mobile data consumed on smartphones is up an average of 89% in the U.S., due in large part to the average cost of data per megabyte falling by 46%, according to new research from the Nielsen Co.

The research group described the growth of data usage as a ‘data tsunami’ that is ‘growing at an astounding pace’ in its latest report, released Friday. The group tracks the cellphone bills of more than 65,000 cellular lines.

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‘Smartphone owners –- especially those with iPhones and Android devices -- are consuming more data than ever before on a per-user basis,’ wrote Don Kellogg, a senior manager for Nielsen’s telecom research and insights team, in a report on the group’s findings. ‘This has huge implications for carriers since the proportion of smartphone owners is also increasing dramatically.’

Currently, about 37% of all cellphone subscribers in the U.S. are using smartphones, Kellogg said.

Over a 12-month period ended March 31, the amount of data the average American smartphone user consumes each month has grown by 89%, from 230 megabytes to 435 megabytes, he said.

‘A look at the distribution of data consumption is even more shocking,’ Kellogg pointed out.

Data usage for the top 10% of smartphone users has increased an average of 109%, while the top 1% has produced an average spike of 155%, over the same 12-month period, he said.

The rise in data usage on smartphones is being driven by consumers using more apps on mobile operating systems such as Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

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‘Consumers with iPhones and Android smartphones consume the most data: 582 MBs per month for the average Android owner and 492 MBs for the average iPhone user,’ Kellogg said. ‘Also of note, Windows Phone 7 users doubled their usage over the past two quarters, perhaps due to growth in the number of applications available.’

But, even as data consumption has nearly doubled over the 12-month period, most smartphone owners aren’t having to pay much more on their monthly cellphone bills.

The average smartphone user pays about 8 cents per megabyte, down from 14 cents per megabyte a year earlier, Kellogg said.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Twitter.com/nateog

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