Worldwide mobile subscriptions to exceed 5B by year-end: study
July 2, 2010
Worldwide wireless subscriptions are up
ABI Research forecasts more than 5 billion mobile subscriptions by the end of 2010, with an approximate 4.8 billion connections having been reached by the end of the year’s first quarter.
Much of this growth will be registered in developing markets in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, according to research firm ABI Research.
“The implication for marketers is that there are a lot of people to reach on the mobile channel,” said Bhavya Khanna, Singapore-based wireless research analyst at ABI Research. “What they must understand is how to tailor to each segment of this market.”
According to the ABI report, Africa remains the fastest growing mobile market with a year-over-year growth of over 22 percent.
Mobile penetration in Asia-Pacific will rise significantly to 65 percent by the end of 2010.
The growth will be driven by India and Indonesia, which have together added more than 150 million subscriptions in the past four quarters.
Falling monthly tariffs and ultra-low-cost mobile handsets have democratised the reach and use of the mobile phone, and aggressive rollouts by wireless carriers in these countries will see the current rate of subscriber addition maintained for some time to come.
At the other end of the spectrum, developed countries in North America and Europe continue to add subscriptions despite already having crossed the 100 percent penetration threshold.
Driving this growth in subscriptions are new mobile devices and the third screen - including netbooks, tablet computers, USB dongles and ebook readers.
The success of Apple’s iPad 3G shows that even operators in saturated markets can add subscriptions by introducing innovative and user-friendly devices.
In addition, the introduction of 4G data networks such as WiMAX and LTE will see more consumers ditch their cables and access the Internet through mobile broadband connections.
Wireless carriers such as Clearwire in the United States and Yota in Russia have seen consumers turn to their networks as fast and mobile alternatives to fixed-line broadband.
“A 2G voice and messaging subscriber – currently the vast majority of mobile subscriptions – requires a strategy tailored around SMS and IVR services,” Mr. Khanna said. “However for fast moving mobile broadband capable subscriptions, there is a large and growing user-base to market rich-content advertisements and promotions to.”
Final take
Giselle Tsirulnik, senior editor of Mobile Marketer, New York: