Global mobile revenues to exceed $1tn for first time in 2013
Total mobile service revenues are predicted to exceed $1 trillion in 2013, despite a projected fall in voice revenues, according to the latest forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media.
The Global Mobile Forecasts report predicts that growth in service revenues will be driven by data revenues climbing to more than $330 billion in 2013, up from an estimated $208 billion in 2008.
Mark Newman, chief research officer at Informa Telecoms & Media, said: “The backdrop to this transition in the industry is the fact that the internet has started to dominate the landscape for new services and applications, and telecoms operators are under increasing pressure to remain valuable and relevant in the eyes of their end-users.
“As this happens, the growth in data revenues is being spurred by the rise in take-up of more advanced technologies and mobile broadband services, as well as new handset interfaces and mobile content strategies based on application stores rather than walled gardens.”
In addition, by the end of 2014, Informa projects that 3.5G+ technologies will represent over a third of the total number of mobile subscriptions.
Midway through January, Futuresource Consulting forecast that more than one billion people worldwide will own a smartphone by 2013.
David Luu, senior market analyst at Futuresource, said: “Last year, mobile phone ownership exceeded four billion users – which equates to nearly 60% of the world’s population.
“And in the face of a handset market which is slowing on the whole, smartphone sales are rising fast, with our year-end forecasts for 2009 showing smartphone sales representing 17% of total handset shipments.”
Elsewhere, analysts at Gartner recently forecast that the mobile device market will see an upturn in fortunes this year, with sales set to increase 9% year on year.