U.S. Consumer Spending on Mobility Up 49%, High Speed Access Up 80% Since 2007

Spending on mobile phone service has grown 49 percent since 2007, an analysis by the Wall Street Journal of U.S. Labor Department data shows.

The analysis of 2013 out-of-pocket spending for the middle 60 percent of the population by income (households earning between about $18,000 and $95,000 a year, before taxes) also shows that spending on high speed access has grown by more than 80 percent since 2007.

In 2013, high speed access spending by the studied households made up about 0.8 percent of spending for middle income households, up from 0.4 percent in 2007. It is worth noting that the cost of high speed access in the United States represents less than one percent of income.

In other countries in the Americas, mobile service costs between five percent and 15 percent of income. Of course, much depends on what sorts of plans are compared, as prepaid accounts and postpaid accounts are not comparable, within or between nations, in terms of price or performance.

Prices per person in developed regions might represent half a percent to two percent of income, depending on the type of plan analyzed.  

Globally, mobile service costs can be as high as 15 percent per person in developing regions, while a bit less than five percent per person in developed regions.  

Over that same period, spending on fixed network phone service declined 31 percent.

Spending on cable and satellite television is up 24 percent from 2007, the study also found.