Introduction to the Wireless Industry

Wireless communications, including such fields as mobile entertainment, RFID, mobile banking and cellphone service, continues to be one of the hottest of the world’s industrial sectors. There were approximately 9.0 billion global wireless communications subscriptions by the end of 2024, according to Plunkett Research estimates. (Since some people have more than one subscription, the number of individual subscribers is significantly lower.)

The wireless industry will continue to enjoy high profitability and revenue growth. This sector is relatively immune to dips in the economy, as consumers consider their mobile communications to be as basic a need as clothing or transportation.

Plunkett Research estimated that there were 405.1 million mobile wireless connections in the U.S. by the end of Q4, 2023. Total U.S. wireless service company revenues were about $308.0 billion during 2022, according to Census.

By 2023, 90% of U.S. cellphone users were on smartphones, according to Pew Research Center, compared to only 61% in early 2013.

China is the world’s largest cellular market. China Mobile Ltd. is China’s largest carrier with 997.4 million subscriptions as of April 2024. China Unicom is fifth with 333 million. 4G connections were dominant in China by 2017, and 5G posted rapid growth beginning in 2020.

In India, the largest carrier is Bharti Airtel Limited, with 562.0 million subscribers. In second place is Reliance Jio, at 469.7 million, which was launched by the giant industrial conglomerate Reliance Industries India. Reliance’s Jio committed to a $25 billion, multiyear investment in 5G systems, starting in 2022.

Today’s smartphones and tablets are internet-capable, able to take full advantage of high-speed access on 4G networks (and, to a growing extent, newer 5G networks). This means that smartphones and tablets can do most of the work of a standard desktop PC. Consumers love the convenience, portability and capabilities of smartphones, and by some estimates spend an average of nearly five hours per day using them (in the U.S).

Smartphone Addiction

While smartphones and their myriad tools and methods to entertain can bring great benefits to users, many people worry about negative impacts of overuse. Many parents are especially concerned about the potential health and anti-social effects on their children. Unfortunately, intense usage of smartphones has become addictive for some consumers, and may lead to both mental and physical problems, such as “computer vision syndrome,” an intense sort of eye strain. Smartphone addiction has its own name: “nomophobia,” or fear of being without a smartphone. The Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous organization (internetaddictsanonymous.org) states that the dopamine release triggered by addiction-level internet and related technologies use can cause structural changes in the brain similar to those experienced by alcohol or drug addicts. It is believed that this can lead to a deterioration in decision-making, cognitive function and memory, among other significant problems.

Mobile banking is one of the most popular services for cellphone users in the emerging world, as wireless innovation is bringing banking services to remote areas for the first time ever, while sophisticated banking apps are extremely popular in developed nations such as the U.S. and Japan. FinTech companies have brought mobile financial services to a new level worldwide, with innovative ways to make digital payments, investments, banking transactions and funds transfers.

The wireless sector incorporates a great deal more than cellphone services, ranging from satellite-based communications to vast wireless Wi-Fi networks in corporate and public spaces. There is no end in sight to the rapid acceleration of wireless. RFID equipment prices are plummeting while adoption is growing on a global basis—this technology is vital for tracking physical inventories using digital methods. Practical uses for smartphones are growing endlessly. Applications for remote wireless sensors of all types (often referred to as the Internet of Things or IoT) are about to soar as technologies improve and costs decline. The most important wireless industry sectors for future growth and advancing technologies include self-driving vehicles, management of “smart cities,” sports, entertainment, energy management and monitoring, advertising and health care (including personal health monitoring).

The most important recent development in the mobile device sector is the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) features into advanced smartphones. Obvious AI-driven features include photo editing, better search engines and language translation. However, as tens of billions of dollars continue to pour into AI severs, tools and software each year, there is massive potential over the mid-term to provide an ever-growing array of very innovative AI tools to smartphone users.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Become a Plunkett Research Online subscriber to gain unlimited access to our massive amount of vital industry data and market research.

✔ 100,000 Industry Statistics
✔ 500 Industries Analyzed for Market Size, Profits and Forecasts
✔ 150,000 Industry Executives Profiled
✔ 25,000 Companies Profiled, Ranked and Analyzed
✔ 1,000 Vital Trends Analyzed, totaling 1,000,000 words

Learn More

Introduction to the Wireless Industry, Business and Industry Trends Analysis

A Representative List of Organizations that Have Used our Research and Products:

How to access Plunkett Research data.

What data challenge can we help you solve today?

Take a Tour

Contact

Testimonials