December 18, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Spending on cell phone services now almost the same as residential phone services spending

Average annual expenditures for cellular phone services per consumer unit rose from $210 in 2001 to $524 in 2006, an increase of 149 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

Expenditures for residential phone services per consumer unit fell from an annual average of $686 in 2001 to $542 in 2006, a decline of 21 percent.

As a result, in 2006, the shares of these two components were almost equal. Residential phone expenditures accounted for 49.9 percent of total telephone expenditures and cellular phone expenditures constituted 48.2 percent. (Other services—phone cards and pager services—accounted for the remainder.)

These data come from the Consumer Expenditure Survey. Find out more in "Spending on Cell Phone Services Rapidly Approaching That of Residential Phone Services."