The total number of mobile telephone and other cellular service subscribers may reach 800 million in Asia by year-end, according to new research announced Tuesday.
With India and Indonesia relatively undeveloped, the billion-user mark may not be far off, consulting firm Frost & Sullivan said in its “Asia Pacific Mobile Communications Outlook 2006” report, a survey of 12 Asian mobile markets. China alone already has over 400 million mobile users, with Japan adding an additional 100 million to the regional total.
The low end of the market, including prepaid services, will have significant impact on growth and operators, the report said. Low-cost handsets and the introduction of flat-rate calling plans will continue to attract new users. Carriers in Asia are still too voice-centric, deriving as much as 75% of total revenue from voice services, according to the report.
Unlike customers in Europe and North America, Asian users, especially those in developing countries, often use prepaid mobile phone cards instead of establishing post-paid subscriptions. Although each call is more expensive, prepaid users spend less and make fewer calls than their subscription counterparts.
Data revenues will continue to grow on the back of increasing 2.5G services, with 3G service still unavailable in many of the region’s countries, the report said. Paid wireless broadband services and WiMAX also offer revenue opportunities, but currently these services are rare outside of smaller markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
