US Businesses to Spend Close to $27B on Wireless Data

Recently, In-Stat released its “U.S. Business Spending, 2009–2014: Operator Subsidies and Market Value by Phone Type, Vertical Market, and Size of Business” report. The report provides forecasts of spending by U.S Businesses on Wireless Handsets for the 2009–2014 period with detailed segmentation by product category, size of business, and vertical market.

According to the report, U.S. businesses to spend about $27 billion on wireless data in 2010. The research firm expects U.S. operators to spend $1.4 billion on subsidizing smartphones for U.S. businesses in 2010. According to the prediction, in all, U.S. operators will spend close to $1.7 billion on handset subsidies for US businesses.

In a press release, Greg Potter, research analyst, said, “Wireless data revenue has been the engine that is driving ARPU growth for U.S. operators. Smartphones are the key for data usage. As a result, the wireless operators are willing to invest in smartphone subsidies. Smartphone subsidies, though, will decline through the forecast period as competitive pressures reduce smartphone ASPs.”

The report also said the following:

• Over the next five years, small business (5 - 99 employees) spending on smartphones will decline 28 percent.
• Wireless handset spending by U.S. businesses will decline from $4.5 to $3.2 billion from 2010 to 2014 with the largest decline coming in the utility and manufacturing vertical segments at 10,000+ size of business
• The total small office/home office sector (SOHO) smartphone market will grow 18 percent in unit shipments in 2014 compared to 2010. The SOHO business category is comprised of U.S. businesses with one to four employees. The education and professional services sector will be the highest growth vertical market.
• Smartphone purchases across all verticals and all US business sizes will increase 14 percent in 2014 compared to 2010. 

This research is part of In-Stat’s (News - Alert) Wireless Spending Forecasts & Segmentation service.