Mobile Telephony Industry: Market Research Reports, Statistics and Analysis

Key Market Segments

• Mobile broadband is fuelling use of mobile messaging as a means of communication, reports Visiongain. Smart device users are availing of email and instant communication, encroaching on MMS and SMS platforms. These devices afford increasingly fast data access and are supported by 3G network accessibility, appealing to mobile messaging users.

• Visiongain estimates mobile video traffic will represent over 60% of global mobile data traffic by 2016. Market growth is expected to reach a yearly rate of 28% to hit almost $23 billion in 2016. Almost 30% of smartphone users avail of mobile video services, and this figure is expected to rise to 40% by 2016. Video services are set to become more commercially viable, benefitting from Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, which will afford greater capacity at reduced cost.

• The worldwide LTE Infrastructure industry is expected to record 51% yearly growth between 2011 and 2015, reports TechNavio. Market growth will be fuelled by LTE-enabled device penetration and demand from end users for higher data speed. FDD-LTE deployments have been increasing compared with TD-LTE network deployments. A challenge to market growth involves the lack of standard frequency bands for LTE services.

• In the face of the worldwide rollout of 4G networks, the future of the mobile data and applications market will depend on operators’ ability to locate revenue sources, deal with over-the-top competitors and streamline network management approaches to adjust data plan pricing to keep revenue and network costs aligned reports Parks Associates.

• The worldwide mobile backhaul test equipment industry is expected to exceed yearly growth of 12% between 2011 and 2014, according to TechNavio. Market expansion will be fuelled by increasing mobile data traffic and a trend toward Ethernet backhaul continues. One obstacle to market growth lies in the interoperability of multiple standards.

Regional Market Share

• The EU mobile phone market exceeded $28 billion in 2010, reports MarketLine. The market recorded yearly growth of almost 2.5% for the four preceding years, and is expected to reach almost 7% between 2010 and 2015 to exceed $39 billion.

• Japan and Korea have been able to dominate the Asian mobile market thanks to early 3G adoption, reports ROA Holdings. As mobile subscriber numbers start to level off in these two countries, operators will be able to tap into the potential in other Asian countries lagging behind in mobile subscriber numbers. It is predicted there will be 7 billion global mobile subscribers by 2015, with Asia forecast to account for 65% of the overall market.

• Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are witnessing high rates of smartphone penetration due to the fact that Symbian-based smartphones were popular prior to the introduction of iPhone OS or Android phones. Smartphone penetration is lower in India and the Philippines due to low levels of disposable income and a trend towards web-enabled feature phones.

• Mobile carriers are focusing on marketing 3G and 4G smartphones in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea in particular, through local vendors Pantech, LGE and Samsung.

Market Outlook

The global mobile applications and mobile services sector will continue to record strong growth in coming years, reports Budde Comm. Mobile services, including mobile TV, social networking, mobile gaming, mobile commerce and mobile video will see location-based services evolve. This segment will benefit from new apps, more advanced handsets and innovative user interfaces.

Leading Industry Associations

• Mobile Operators Association www.mobilemastinfo.com
• Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association www.amta.org.au
• Wireless Federation http://wirelessfederation.com