Asia Pacific Remains Strongest Growth In Wireless Arena
Asia-Pacific remains the world’s primary growth region for wireless networks, with Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan forecast to catch up with Japan and South Korea thanks to the recent 3G network launches, according to eMarketer.
Asia-Pacific is boosted by the presence of China, which is home to an enormous and still-expanding user population, dwarfing subscriber bases elsewhere in the world. India is expected to enjoy a steep rise in wireless consumption, with the report forecasting the country to develop into a major force within the region by the end of the decade.
Author of the research, Noah Elkin, claims that the emergence of pricing schemes have enabled to build the popularity of mobile communications, with wireless services now within reach of a good proportion of the region’s vast low-end market.
Elkin asserts that the challenge for marketers now is getting users to pay for data and other premium content once they have signed up for a service.
Recent research from the Yankee Group found that two thirds of mobile customers in the US are willing to spend more money on data services from their mobile phone, with a particular interest from younger users on music (see Continued Uptake Of Mobile Data Services)/
The slowing pace in some mature markets is confirmed by an earlier report by high-tech market research firm In-Stat, showing that world-wide handset revenue is predicted to reach $112 billion in 2005, with India, China and Eastern Europe leading growth in emerging markets (see Mobile Phone Market Starting To Slow).
In-Stat estimates the total number of new subscribers between 2004 and 2009 to reach 777.7 million world-wide, with China continuing to lead the world in terms of overall subscriber growth.
Nearly two-thirds of all new wireless users are predicted to be in Asia, while subscriber growth in Europe is forecast to continue to slow, stalling in Scandinavia and Western Europe.
China’s wireless penetration rate is predicted to increase over the next four years, rising from the current rate of 25% to over 40% by 2009, according to eMarketer’s latest China Wireless report (see Strong Wireless Penetration Predicted For China).
In a relatively short time, China has become a leading wireless market, with significant opportunities for further growth.
This confirms In-Stat/MDR’s Worldwide Mobile Subscriber Forecasts 2004 – 2009, which predicts that China will continue to lead the world in overall subscriber growth (see Growth Returns To Mobile Phone Market).
