Cell Phone Industry Booms

Jan. 24 -- Cell phone ownership jumped from just over 5.2 million in 1990 to nearly 110 million last year — a more than twenty-fold increase in just 10 years, new figures show.

Driving the phenomenal growth are several factors — one of which is the decreasing costs. The data notes that the average monthly cell phone bill has been almost cut in half — from $81 to just over $45 — over the past decade.

Survey data, compiled by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) in Washington D.C. and published in the U.S. Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2001 report, points to the rapid adoption for cell phone technology as a key reason behind the growth.

"The cell phone industry has shown remarkable growth over the decade," says Glenn King, chief of the statistical compendia branch of the Commerce Dept. that produces the abstract. Noting that there were only 55 million users in 1997, "It's doubled in the last three years alone," he says.

"With cost of service coming down, cell phones service becomes accessible to everyone," says Charles Golvin, a senior analyst with Forrester Research. "People can be in touch anytime and anywhere they want to."

More Boorish Chatters?

Still, such anytime, anyplace communication has impacted the social acceptance of cell phones, too. It seems almost impossible to see a movie at a theater without some patron's phone ringing, or to have a meal in a quiet restaurant without some other diner at another chatting away.

But Golvin thinks that as more people begin using cell phones, they're also learning to be more socially aware.

"It's less likely that when you're in a theater or some other shared public space where quiet is valued, fewer and fewer people will forget to turn off their cell phones or put it in silent mode," he says. "People who forget to do those things, the rest of the audience feels very free to communicate their displeasure [to the offenders.] There's the outward pressure to behave responsibly."