The Asia-Pacific region is growing increasingly important in terms of mobile service roaming, with its base forecast to rise to 170 million roamers, up from 36 million in 2004 and accounting for 20% of the world’s outbound roamers by 2010, according to a new study by Informa Telecoms & Media.
Informa estimates that outbound roamers will account for 13% of the region’s subscriber base by 2010, up from 5% in 2004, fuelled by the growth in Asia-Pacific’s own mobile subscriber base, as well as increased travel from countries such as China to Europe.
Growth in global roaming is predicted to be driven by the rise in prepaid roaming, and more contract users utilising roaming while travelling abroad. Additionally, in the Asia-Pacific, there are increased opportunities for new roamers in Japan and Korea.
Commenting on the new research, Michele Scanlon, telecoms consultant and author of Informa’s new Global Mobile Roaming said: “Europe is currently the cornerstone of global roaming traffic and revenues accounting for 65% of traffic.”
She continued: “However, Asia-Pacific is expected to increase its global share of the roaming market with more outbound traffic, especially from China, and increased inbound travel across the region for tourism and business.”
While the overall growth of mobile subscribers is focused on emerging markets, growth in roaming usage is also forecast to come from the mature markets of Asia-Pacific, lead by regional and global alliances.
The Asia-Pacific region also looks set to enjoy a surge in subscriptions to 3G mobile telephone services, with these predicted to rise by over 130 million in the next four years, according to market intelligence firm, IDC (see Asia-Pacific 3G Penetration To Hit Over 140 Million By 2009).
Research published last year by In-Stat estimated that subscribers of worldwide mobile phones would hit 2.5 billion by 2009 (see Growth Returns To Mobile Phone Market). Services such as wideband code-division access, one of the main technologies for the implementation of 3G cellular systems, are predicted to experience robust expansion by 2008.
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