The Latin American wireless market looks set to continue to grow, with wireless carriers expected to add between 55 and 90 million new subscribers between 2004 and 2009, according to analyst eMarketer.
Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are forecast to account for most of the growth, attracting approximately 55 million subscribers, and making them key markets for providers of wireless applications, handsets and services.
Although set for significant growth, penetration in the Latin American region poses operators with certain issues.
Noah Elkin, senior analyst at eMarketer and author of the new Latin America Wireless report explained: “As in other developing regions, operators face significant challenges in offsetting falling voice revenues by graduating a largely pre-paid user population to higher value-added data services.”
Elkin continued: “Post-paid and corporate subscribers represent a far more attractive target for wireless carriers, but they also carry high initial costs.”
Globally, wireless mobile phone subscriber growth is currently experiencing robust expansion after several years of slower growth, according to In-Stat (see PVRs To Reach 32 Million By 2010).
The high-tech research firm forecasts the worldwide wireless market to grow to more than 2.3 billion subscribers by 2009, with an increasing battle for supremacy among different technology providers.
In-Stat estimates the total number of new subscribers between 2004 and 2009 to reach 777.7 million worldwide, 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 Growth Returns To Mobile Phone Market).
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 Strong Wireless Penetration Predicted For China).
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