• May 6, 2009

The wireless industry has hardly been immune to the global recession. The average revenue per users (ARPU) of mobile users worldwide was down between 5% and 15% in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the year-earlier period, according to new data from ABI Research.

The overall revenue decline was offset partly by growing mobile Web use, which led to sales gains of 15% to 20% in that category. ABI expects mobile Internet revenues to continue growing strongly despite the economic downturn cell users increasingly turn to mobile data applications to improve professional and personal productivity.

End-user voice traffic still grew between 2% and 10% depending on the market, but revenue and minutes continue to decline, said ABI. Mark Walsh