Within 24 to 36 Months Mobile Internet Penetration Will Overtake the PC

The T-Mobile-MetroPCS merger is now complete. The newly combined company, which is majority (74%) owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, debuted on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker symbol TMUS. The stock was up about 6% in early trading. Post-merger, here are the most recent subscriber counts for the four major US wireless carriers:

• AT&T — 105 million
• Verizon — 99 million
• Sprint — 54 million
• T-Mobile — 43 million

That makes a total of 301 million accounts, not including smaller regional carriers. There are approximately 312 million people in the US. Some percentage of the 301 million are obviously second accounts. Measurement firm comScore counts the total US wireless population at 235 million, whereas CTIA says that, as of Q2 2012, there are 321.7 million “wireless subscriber connections.” The “right” number is probably about 250 million. Smartphone penetration is 57% according to comScore and roughly 60% according to Nielsen. Accordingly the US market is closing in on 150 million smartphones. Total US internet penetration stands at 221 million according to comScore. Within three years (perhaps 24 months) there will be more “mobile devices” and wireless internet penetration than PC internet users. Just under 40% of total media time is now spent on mobile devices (including tablets). However current mobile ad spending is only 9% of the US digital total according to the IAB.