U.S. Mobile Voice Spending Now Greater Than 80%, Fixed Voice Less than 18%

In 2017, the average consumer unit spent $1,118 (approximately $94 a month) on cellular phone service, accounting for 82 percent of total telephone spending, or almost two percent of total household spending, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Surveys.

Keep in mind that the BLS survey seems confined to "telephone" spending, and does not seem to include internet access and video subscription revenue.

The caveat here is that the BLS defines a “consumer unit” as families, single persons living alone or sharing a household with others but who are financially independent, or two or more unrelated persons living together who pool their income to make joint expenditure decisions.

It is a bit unclear whether we should interpret spending as “per person” or “per household.” That could make a big difference in determining how much each individual spends on mobility.

One takeaway from the data is that households are swapping mobile spending for former fixed network spending. Obviously, since fixed service is “to a place,” where mobile service is to “a person or device,” the total number of subscriptions is greater.

source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

In 2007, fixed voice service represented about 45 percent of household spending on communications. By 2017, that percentage had dropped to about 18 percent of household spending on communications.

Percentage of Household Spending on Mobile, Fixed Services
Year	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Mobile phone service	54.8	57.1	61.3	64.5	67.4	69.6	71.8	73.2	75.9	78.5	82.4
Fixed phone service	45.2	42.9	38.7	35.5	32.7	30.4	28.2	26.8	24.1	21.5	17.6
source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Customers younger than 25 tend to spend about $725 a year on mobility services, about 94 percent of total communications spending by such persons. Customers 25 to 34 tend to spend $1139, about 93 percent of total spending.

Customers 35 to 54 tend to spend $1440 to $1492 on mobility services, representing 87 to 90 percent of spending on communications.

Age group	2007		2017
	Expenditure	Percent share	Expenditure	Percent share
Under 25 years	$560	75.3	$725	94.0
25–34 years	728	66.5	1,139	92.8
35–44 years	757	58.5	1,439	89.9
45–54 years	753	56.6	1,492	86.5
55–64 years	546	48.1	1,161	79.6
65 years and older	264	32.8	672	63.2
65–74 years	374	39.5	850	70.3
75 years and older	148	22.5	423	49.4
source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics