The European Union has been uncharacteristically open about the growing gap between wireless use and availability in Europe and the U.S.

A recent article in PC Magazine reported on a poll by the Pew organization on the level of adoption of smartphones in the United States.  In the article, reporter Stephanie Mlot wrote: “For the first time since the Pew Research Center began tracking smartphone adoption in the U.S., the organization has announced that most American adults now own smartphones.”

Drilling down further into the numbers, she found that more than half (56 percent) own a smartphone.  About one-third own a feature phone, and only 9 percent of the 2,250 adults didn’t own any cell phone at all.

Keep in mind that the first modern smartphone – the iPhone 1 – was introduce on June 27, 2007 – just six years ago.

The proliferation of smartphone adoption can be explained in part by America’s competitive advantage with wireless deployment compared with Europe.

In a comparison between the U.S. and E.U. wireless environment, the GSMA – representing wireless operators in 220 countries – recently released a report showing just how the U.S. model of private investment and a light regulatory touch has increased the spread in wireless adoption between the U.S. and E.U.

According to the study, the GSMA reported:

• On average, U.S. consumers spend more each month than their EU counterparts and use mobile services much more intensely, consuming five times more voice minutes and nearly twice as much data.
• Average mobile data connection speeds in the U.S. are now 75 per cent faster than those in Europe and by 2017 will be more than 100 percent faster.
• Mobile investment in the United States has outpaced that in Europe, with capital expenditure in the U.S. growing by 70 per cent since 2007 while declining in the EU and the gap continues to widen.

GSMA reported that because of an investment advantage of more than 65 percent by U.S. wireless operators over their E.U. peers, the U.S. is deploying LTE at a far greater rate.  By the end of 2013, the report says, 19 percent of all U.S. connections will be over an LTE network compared to less than 2 percent in the E.U.

In a press release, the GSMA quotes report’s author analyst Jeff Eisenach, managing director at Navigant Economics, as explaining:

“While there are several factors leading to this divergent performance, it can be partially attributed to the relatively inefficient structure of mobile markets in Europe.

“EU regulatory policies have resulted in a fragmented market structure that prevents operators from capturing beneficial economies of scale and scope and inhibits the growth of the mobile ecosystem.

And just as the U.S. leads the E.U. with wireless deployment, America’s wired and fixed services supersede Europe in similar factors.

According to a study by the Internet Innovation & Technology Foundation (ITIF), an honest picture of America’s leadership in wired service has come to light:

• The adoption rate in the United States for broadband exceeds 68 percent adoption rate for all households which is higher than the EU-15’s 66.9 percent.
• Using the same private-investment model as wireless providers, wired broadband ISPs in the U.S. have reached near saturation with 96.3% of U.S. households having access to wired broadband. 
• To reach the 96.% wired access level, American firms bought more fiber cable in 2011 than any other country besides China which is far behind in total deployment.

European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes has said that that private investment is the primary driver of broadband progress in the U.S.  “Though the public sector can help, the real heavy lifting must be done by private investment,” she said.