The mobile broadband market will continue its rapid growth during the next five years and generate valuable new revenue streams for mobile network operators, according to a new report.
According to the Analysys Mason report
Mobile broadband in Europe: forecasts and analysis 2009-2014, there will be 148 million mobile broadband connections in Europe by 2014, when they will account for almost half of all broadband connections in the region.
Prepaid subscriptions will account for 59% of mobile broadband connections in 2014, up from 8% in 2008.
Matt Hatton, Principal Analyst and author of the report, said: “Mobile broadband will be the key growth driver in Europe during the next five years.
“As growth in voice service revenue stagnates, mobile broadband provides operators with an opportunity to tap into a valuable new revenue stream – and they can not afford to miss out.”
Mobile broadband services will generate service revenue of EUR23 billion in Europe in 2014, compared with EUR6 billion in 2008, which represents a compound annual growth rate of 46%, the research firm said.
While prepaid users will account for the majority of growth in the number of connections, contract subscribers will continue to contribute most of the service revenue, at 77% in 2014. Analysys Mason estimates that mobile broadband will account for 5.7% of all telecoms service revenue in Europe by the end of the forecast period, up from 1.7% in 2008.
Hatton added: “The key development in the mobile broadband market during the next five years will be the growing proportion of casual users.
“These subscribers will have different usage profiles from the early adopters and landline-replacement users who have dominated the customer base until now. MNOs need to understand the demands of this subscriber segment to take advantage of the tremendous opportunity presented by mobile broadband.”
Research from Nielsen Online has found that from Q2 to Q3 2008, the number of Britons using mobile internet increased by 25% (from 5.8 to 7.3 million) compared to 3% for PC-based internet (34.3 to 35.3 million Britons) (see Increase in Britons using mobile internet).
A report from Point Topic, meanwhile, revealed that heavy marketing of mobile broadband has pushed the mobile phone networks ahead of WiFi hotspots as the most popular way of accessing the internet on the move.
The report shows that the UK mobile phone companies have grown their market share to 47% of users accessing the internet away from home or work, compared to 42% who prefer WiFi hotspots (see Mobile Phone Networks Overtake Wi-Fi On The Move).
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