A new report from ABI Research predicts a boom in HD Radio usage in the next five years. ABI attributes a pending increase in HD Radio to its current standardization in Europe, as well as HD technology being used in smartphones.

According to Media Daily News, ABI sees a worldwide "installed base" of HD Radios to hit 200 million by 2015, an impressive cumulative annual growth rate of 60 percent. ABI says that as of 2010, there were four million HD receivers sold in the U.S. and 13.5 million in Europe, led by the U.K.

The study points out that HD technology is going to be increasingly included in smartphones, partially in response to concerns about the amount of bandwidth and data being sucked up by streaming Internet radio. ABI Research senior analyst Sam Rosen points out "AT&T's decision to stop offering unlimited data plans, due largely to high data usage in New York and San Francisco."