Cellular ARPU 2006: trends continue

World cellular blended ARPU resumed its longer-term downward trend in 2006, having been flatter during 2005. The trend is visible in all regions except North America and Latin America, and is most evident in countries with lower penetration rates. There are some countries where ARPU is growing and, interestingly, these are mostly in the markets with higher penetration rates. But, at very high levels of market penetration, multiple device ownership drives reported ARPU lower again. This distorts the view of real users' behaviour and real ARPU growth is typically 5% better than reported ARPU growth in developed markets. High-speed data services (HSDPA and CDMA2000 1X Rev A) are causing a visible improvement on non-voice ARPU, in some cases more than compensating for falls in voice ARPU.