Mobile Broadband Now 24% of All U.S. Consumer Connections

About 24 percent of all U.S. broadband consumer connections already are mobile, and in just six months in 2009, mobile broadband accounts in service grew 40 percent, the Federal Communications Commission reports.

Of 113 million broadband connections in service in the United States in mid-2009, about 35 million were mobile broadband connections, the Federal Communications Commission reports.

Compared to the beginning of 2009, when there were 25 million mobile broadband subscriptions in service, mobile broadband grew 40 percent in just six months.

There were 94 million residential connections in service at mid-year 2009, of which 71 million
were fixed-technology connections and 23 million were mobile wireless.

Mobile broadband connections are growing much faster than fixed connections are, but the ironic result is that average consumer broadband speeds might appear to be slower than they actually are, since in 2009 most mobile connections operated slower than most fixed-line connections.

That will change once fourth-generation networks become more widespread, and more consumers actually subscribe to 4G services. Right now, virtually all mobile broadband services operate at 3 Mbps or less. That should not be the case once 4G networks start to be used.

full report here