Americans Used Record 100 Trillion Megabytes of Wireless Data In 2023

A new survey released on Tuesday found that Americans used over 100 trillion megabytes of wireless data last year — a 36% increase from the previous year and the largest single-year increase in the history of wireless data consumption. The increase — 26 trillion MBs over 2022 — comes as a growing number of 5G wireless devices are being used, said wireless industry association CTIA that represents major wireless carriers like Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and technology firms. The total number of wireless connections rose to 558 million last year, up 6% over 2022, the survey found.

Demand for spectrum use is soaring, driven in part by more wireless use in advancements including drones, self-driving vehicles, space missions and precision agriculture. The survey said the number of minutes Americans spent talking on the phone fell slightly from 2.5 trillion in 2022 to 2.4 trillion in 2023 and text messages were about the same at 2.1 trillion in 2023 over the prior year.