About 65 percent of small businesses surveyed by AT&T (News - Alert) say they could not survive, or would be challenged to survive, without wireless technology.  About 11 percent more respondents agreed with those views since the last survey in 2007, when 42 percent said they could not survive, or would survive only with difficulty.

Although 80 percent of small business executives said they reduced or held their budgets steady in 2009, they have not cut back on their use of wireless technologies and expect to rely more on wireless technology over the next two years.

Some 65 percent of businesses plan on spending more or about the same on technology overall, including wireless solutions, in 2010 as they did in 2009.

Fully, 74 percent of survey respondents said they expect to depend on it even more two years from now. More than three times as many small businesses today strongly agree that wireless technology is key to keeping them competitive –49 percent compared to 16 percent in 2007, AT&T says. 

The results are based on an online survey of 2,023 small business owners or employees responsible for Information Technology. Specifically, 1,009 surveys were completed by small businesses located throughout the United States and 1,014 surveys were completed with small businesses located in 10 markets.

Small businesses were defined as having between two and 50 employees, both part-time and full-time.