Mobile Internet Access Generates at Least $1.1 Trillion Globally, Every Year

Globally, analysts at Boston Consulting Group estimate a mobile Internet ecosystem annual revenue of $2.9 trillion a year. If spending percentages globally reflect the average of 13 countries--39 percent of total mobile ecosystem spending--that would imply mobile Internet access revenues globally are about $1.1 trillion annually.

Smartphone users in the U.S. currently spend an average of $1,450 per year on their phones, data plans, apps, and content, BCG estimates.

If 41 percent of mobile ecosystem spending is for apps and content, 42 percent is mobile access and devices 12 percent, then U.S. mobile consumers spend $594.50 annually on content and apps.

Mobile Internet access, at 42 percent, represents $609. Devices represent about $174 a year in spending.

Revenues generated by the mobile Internet ecosystem in 2013 amounted to $682 billion in 13 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States) that account for approximately 70 percent of global gross domestic product.

Internet access revenues range widely from about 18 percent of total ecosystem revenues in Japan up to about 58 percent in Brazil, and an average of 39 percent across the 13 countries. About 34 percent of mobile ecosystem revenue us earned, on average, by app and content providers.