Nielsen Announces Top U.S. Markets for Mobile Data Service

U.S. mobile subscribers in St. Louis, Missouri have the fastest 3G data networks, according to The Nielsen Company.

Nielsen Mobile released the findings as the wireless industry gathered in Las Vegas, Nevada for the CTIA WIRELESS 2008 trade show.

Salt Lake City, Utah; Phoenix, Arizona; San Diego, California; and Indianapolis, Indiana rounded out the top five cities with the fastest 3G data networks.

At 807 kilobits per second (kbps), St. Louis’s average download speed was 17% faster than ninth-ranked Washington, D.C., where the average speed was 688 kbps. Among the cities with top ranked 3G data networks, the average download speed for a 4 megabyte (MB) file was 727 kbps—an increase of more than 100 kbps over the top market average measured during the second half of 2006.

“Carriers continued to expand their 3G data network footprints in 2007, while maintaining the high level of voice service that subscribers have become accustomed to,” said Mike Greenawald, Vice President, Consumer Experience, Nielsen Mobile. “That trend will continue in 2008, as carriers continue to enhance their 3G service offerings.”

Nielsen evaluates data markets by calculating average data transaction speeds for a 4 MB file downloaded in a mobile environment. These findings are based on an average of 4,100 3G data downloads per city across the top 50 cities.

Data for this analysis was captured by Nielsen’s fleet of 25 vans, which log more than one million drive-test miles, place over four million calls, and set up over 1,250,000 data sessions each year. The data they collect is integrated with Nielsen’s consumer research to provide complete understanding and measurement of mobile consumers. Nielsen’s fleet—the largest independent mobile testing unit in North America—is expanding globally, starting with India in 2008.