Mobile Set to Become a Trillion Dollar Industry in 2008

A new report from Portio Research confidently predicts that the worldwide mobile industry will be worth US$1 trillion by the close of 2008. The report produces some staggering statistics which places the industry at the top of the pecking order in terms of sustained growth, surpassing other market sectors such as IT and Pharmaceuticals.

Perhaps one of the most re-assuring trends is the continued growth in the number of mobile subscribers worldwide from 3.1 billion at the end of 2007 to an estimated 5 billion by 2012. All non-voice Value Added Services (VAS) continue to grow with forecasts showing the worldwide market for non-voice services to be worth US$250 billion by 2012.

There is also good news for handset manufacturers, whose market continues to grow year-on-year with total handset shipments surpassing 1 billion units for the first time in 2007. There are significant trends at both ends. At the high-end consumer tastes are changing and mobile subscribers have realised that their handsets can do much more than send messages or make phone calls. For example by October 2007 there were almost 6.8 million mobile video viewers in the US alone. The number of mobile TV subscribers is predicted to be 488.8 million by the end of 2010.

However, at the low end, the recent focus on ultra-low cost handsets for poor rural markets has been great news for subscribers and the operators of these fledging networks, but has driven down the worldwide average handset selling price.

The report also delivers some surprising geographical statistics, which put the whole industry in perspective.

For example, the burgeoning US market accounted for only 6.7 % of worldwide data services revenues in 2004, but by 2012 it is expected to be worth 27.8%. This is in contrast to the Asia Pacific market, with many more subscribers, but where contribution to worldwide data services revenue falls from 50.9% to 38.6% in the same time frame. This is a reflection of the staggering difference in levels of ARPU between these two geographical regions.

Posted to the site on 5th March 2008