US wireless growth strong

Total revenues from wireless services for the first six months rose nearly 13 percent to $41.4 billion from a year ago, while revenues from data services rose 70 percent to $700 million, according to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association's semi-annual wireless industry survey. The study found that overall billable minutes-of-use rose 30% from last year to 380 billion minutes and the number of short text messages sent rose 31% to 1.2 billion. Total wireless subscribers rose 10% to 148.1 million by June 2003. Wireless operators spent more than $134 billion in capital investments in the first six months of the year, compared with $118.4 billion during the year-ago period, the study said.