Greater Value at Lower Prices —That’s Wireless Today

Introduction

Wireless service continues to show a striking divergence between its relatively low price and the compounding improvements in wireless network performance and service value. This trend of continual network upgrades in the midst of low and declining mobile prices has held consistent over the last decade, all while we've seen prices increase for products and services across many parts of the economy.

The wireless industry has gone through an astonishing evolution through the past two generations of wireless. Network improvements have helped push broadband speeds farther into our communities, unlocking countless experiences and opportunities for hundreds of millions of customers.

Without more full-power licensed spectrum, making good on the pipeline Congress established in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, network investment and advancement are at risk. Between 2021 and 2023, CTIA's Annual Survey found an 89 percent increase in wireless data usage, while Ericsson predicts data traffic will grow another three times by 2029. Congress has called for at least 800 megahertz to be auctioned over the coming decade to help meet that demand, but there are not yet firm plans in place to auction much-needed mid-band spectrum.

Accenture has warned that without additional spectrum, network performance will be degraded, with consumers experiencing slower speeds, more dropped calls, and longer loading times. To continue to incentivize wireless investment and innovation-and the resulting consumer benefits-it is critical that policymakers move quickly to act on the pipeline of commercial mid-band spectrum auctions called for in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to support the future of wireless communications.

Key findings:

1. Over recent years (2017-2023), the wireless industry has invested $215 billion in wireless network infrastructure and a further $137 billion at spectrum auctions.
2. This record capital spending has produced exponential improvements in service quality, performance, and wireless innovation-including the creation of 5G home broadband, a new competitive broadband offering bringing choice and low prices to the home broadband marketplace.
3. It would be reasonable to expect that while the industry was building next generation networks wireless prices might increase, but instead they declined 18 percent in the past 10 years according to CPI data.
4. During that same period, consumer prices for services like healthcare and grocery products like milk and eggs have seen double-digit price increases.
5. 5G is now bringing this same dynamic to the market for home broadband service. The Wall Street Journal reports that while overall CPI was up by 2.4 percent from 2024-2025, home broadband prices fell by over 3 percent, thanks to new competition against cable from 5G-based offerings.
6. Competition is the key force behind the continual improvements to the wireless landscape-wireless is a highly competitive industry. Each operator is pushed to build the next generation network to maintain its competitive position, driving relative price decreases and improved service quality.
7. But without quick action to address the auction pipeline Congress established, wireless investment, innovation and all the attendant consumer benefits face an uncertain future.

Wireless connects America

The wireless industry understands how vital wireless service is to our customers. For example, Pew Research has found that 15 percent of U.S. adults use their smartphone as their sole connection and don't subscribe to home broadband. Today, wireless gives anyone with a phone reliable high-speed access to the internet. Our phones have become our wallets, our keys, and a critical connection to work, family, entertainment, travel and security. And the industry is not done yet: providers are heavily investing in this resource as they lay the groundwork for the future of communications.

Wireless is a major contributor to the U.S. economy

Over recent years (2017-2023), the wireless industry has invested $215 billion in wireless network infrastructure and an additional $137 billion at spectrum auctions. Few, if any, other industries have spent as much to deliver dramatically improved service quality for customers. From 2020-2022, the five publicly-traded mobile providers-AT&T, Dish, Verizon, T-Mobile, and UScellular-invested an average of $54 billion per year, making them the second-highest investing industry after the tech/internet sector, according to recent research. In fact, including purchases of airwave licenses, total wireless industry capital spending was $773 billion between 2011 to 2022, exceeding the combined spending of the largest five tech companies, according to the study.

Transformative improvements

Advanced U.S. wireless infrastructure feeds the growing data needs of all industries and enables innovations, creating higher productivity and lower costs as a result, according to a Boston Consulting Group report. 5G promises to benefit every industry, including manufacturing, healthcare, energy, transportation, e-commerce, logistics, and education. BCG found 5G's overall impact will create $1.5 trillion in economic growth and 4.5 million new jobs across the country.

For industries and consumers alike, 5G provides a suite of new capabilities and options from reduced latency, network slicing options and cyber enhancements. The most discussed change-and one that is representative of the transformative nature of 5G-is the increase in average download speed. Today's speeds are up over 179x since 2010-with the median wireless download speed at 177 Mbps in 2025. These fast speeds can provide comparable service to many wired broadband offerings, unlocking new applications and services, giving consumers new choices for their home broadband provider. Average wireless speeds are now higher than the government's threshold for home broadband, 100 Mbps downstream.

The leap in speeds has changed consumer behavior by making it easier to create content, share videos, and do more from your phone on the go. For instance, public venues like NFL stadiums saw a 37 percent increase in data traffic to nearly 1PB for the regular season, thanks to additional network capacity at no extra charge to the customer.

While consumers see new offerings and improved service-prices continue to fall

The wireless industry's remarkable investment and intense market competition continue to bring lower prices. Globally, the U.S. now ranks as one of the top three nations in terms of wireless affordability, reflecting the average household's disposable income.

Recent inflation has driven up many prices across the economy, but the wireless industry is proud to have been an outlier during this trend. At inflation's peak in 2022, over 94 percent of goods tracked by the government were higher in price year-over-year. Wireless service was actually cheaper, underscoring that competition and wireless investment is delivering for American consumers.

Since 2000, thanks to heavy network investment and a continual pipeline of additional spectrum, the overall value of service has increased dramatically, while the average consumer bill has dropped by more than half according to BLS data. In just the span of nine years, for example, the average unlimited plan cost $114 a month in 2010, that same plan dropped to $65 by 2019. Today, popular unlimited plans can be found for as low as $30 per month, available with much higher speeds and reliability than before.

Looking at the last decade specifically, wireless prices fell 18 percent-while prices for goods like eggs went up 31 percent, milk 12 percent, education services 20 percent, and medical care services 32 percent. We've seen low wireless prices offset rising prices in the past. For example, wireless price declines in 2017 were so steep, they caused the total average price of consumer goods to fall for the first time in seven years.

Today, the wireless industry is helping bring greater price competition to the home broadband market. One cable CEO recently shared with investors, "I would tell you that the newer competitor in the last few years has obviously been fixed wireless. They're adding 1 million subscribers per quarter… they have a pricing construct in terms of simplicity and ease of doing business that has resonated."

Stiff competition spurs industry forward…

The industry's sweeping performance improvements and pricing dynamics are driven by vigorous competition. There are nearly 100 mobile providers, resellers, and MVNOs nationwide, and consumers can choose from hundreds of devices, multiple operating systems, and millions of apps and services. Prepaid service continues to be a core option for consumers, with prices starting around $15 per month.

Providers that deploy and operate their own networks face intense pressure to upgrade their infrastructure and provide the most compelling service they can in order to gain market share. What's more, virtual operators and resellers provide competition on price and service.

Wireless company competition has set a very high bar, even while the industry is maturing. Instead of a large pool of new customers buying mobile phones, today in the United States, nearly every adult and most young people already have phones and a service provider. The industry's growth depends on each of the providers attracting customers from rivals while trying to maintain their own customer base.

… and consumers benefit

This highly competitive environment has resulted in better service for lower prices-According to Ookla data, since 2010, speeds are 179x faster, wireless data use is up 258x, all while the price per MB of data is now 99 percent less than it was in 2010.

Providers continue to innovate on their offerings-from adding phone-to-satellite service, to enhancing security efforts, to preparing for an onslaught of network traffic ahead as AI gets wider adoption, to finetuning networks to support edge computing with zero lag time or delays is essential to keep advanced services flowing.

In addition to improved service, the industry offers price tiers to meet nearly every level of consumer spending. Providers are also offering customers the opportunity to lock in their plan price for a set period or guarantee a level of service that if not met, earns them money back or other benefits.

And again, 5G for home service is introducing competition into the home broadband market-and consumers are responding. For the past three years, virtually all new broadband subscribers chose 5G. This new competitive pressure on home broadband prices is already being seen in the data. The Wall Street Journal reports that while overall CPI was up by 2.4 percent from 2024-2025, home broadband prices fell by over 3 percent, thanks to 5G home broadband. If more licensed spectrum is allocated and providers can expand 5G home service to more markets, home broadband consumers could realize $8.1B in savings-even for those who don't subscribe to 5G home.

Following through on Congress' spectrum pipeline is key to continued consumer benefits

We're entering a unique period in our industry's history when the value of wireless service has never been higher, and the relative price has never been lower.

But without more spectrum, future value improvements are at risk. Congress charted a path to continuing the long history of consumer gains from improving wireless service with the robust and forward-looking pipeline of spectrum auctions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But now comes the work of implementing the law and identifying 800 megahertz of spectrum to be auctioned.

Policymakers should move swiftly to identify bands suited to be repurposed for auctions of full-power spectrum licenses. Allocating more spectrum brings major benefits: each 100 megahertz of mid-band spectrum will add $260 billion to America's GDP, create 1.5 million jobs and connect 275 thousand households for the first time. And with more spectrum, consumers will continue to experience the innovation, robust service, and value they have come to expect from America's wireless industry.