A Nielsen report issued yesterday shows that Americans now use wireless text messaging more than they do wireless voice service. 

During the second quarter of 2008, U.S. mobile subscribers sent and received 357 text messages per month on average, compared with making and receiving 204 phone calls a month. This compares with 65 text messages sent and received on average per month in the first quarter of 2006, more than a five-fold increase over the period.

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Text messaging has been more popular in Europe and Asia where text messaging rates are relatively low, while voice calling rates can often be quite high. In the United States, the growth of text messaging is driven in part by younger users and in part because of the proliferation of text messaging service packages that include either a set number of messages or unlimited messaging.

The tendency of younger people to use text messaging also is evident among people with disabilities. Responses to our Survey of User Needs shows that 67% of those age 18-24 and 63% of those age 25-44 identified text messaging as an important feature. Only 42% of those age 45-64 and 21% of those 65 and older identified text messaging as important.