NEW YORK, USA: The data traffic is now significantly more than the voice traffic in the US. An average US consumer was consuming approximately 230 MB/mo up 50 percent in six months by 1H 2010. This is according to a report, 'US Wireless Data Market Q2 2010', by Chetan Sharma, Technology and Strategy Consulting group.

The US telecom market, which has attained 100 percent mobile penetration (if the 5 yrs and younger are kept out), has become ground zero for mobile broadband consumption and data traffic management evolution.

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Moreover, smartphones account for 31 percentage of the US subscription base, which explain why AT&T and Verizon added more connected devices than postpaid subscribers in Q2 2010. Carriers added 2.6 million connected devices and 1.2 million contract customers, adds the report

While it lags Japan and Korea in 3G penetration by a distance, owing to its higher penetration of smartphones and datacards, the consumption is much higher than its Asian counterparts, and also has largest deployment base for HSPA+ and LTE, adds the report.

As we had forecasted, the tiered pricing structure for mobile broadband touched the US shores with AT&T becoming the first major operator to change its pricing plan based on consumer consumption. We will see the pricing evolve over the next 2-4 quarters as the US mobile ecosystem adjusts to the new realities and strategies for mobile data consumption.

Where iPad dominated the headlines, several other devices also got introduced during the course of 1H of 2010, including the iPad and EVO.

On one hand where we saw HP acquiring Palm to revive its mobile device space, on the other Microsoft announced its comeback with the W7 commercial launch. W7 v2 is likely around the corner.

2010 has also been active on the regulatory front as the national broadband plan was unveiled in March and the subsequent debate over the course of nations broadband future kept the spectrum, net-neutrality, and exclusivity issues at the forefront.

"2010 is also the year of network rollouts. T-Mobile has been rolling out HSPA+ at an impressive rate, Clearwire announced its intention to move to LTE, Verizon is betting big on LTE and looking for competitive marketing advantage over the course of the next 12 months."

AT&T has been adding backhaul, upgrading to HSPA+ and planning for LTE all at once. Even the smaller carriers like MetroPCS are looking for competitive advantage with quicker LTE launch and beat others by carrying the first LTE smartphone.