Emerging Markets To Drive Mobile Networking Growth

Despite the current global economic downturn, the number of mobile network subscribers worldwide will continue to grow at a rate of nearly 8 percent annually through 2013, with 90 percent of that growth coming from emerging economies, according to a new report from Pyramid Research, the telecom research arm of Light Reading Communications Group.

‘Mobile Subscriber and Revenue Forecast 2008-2013: Emerging Market Opportunities’ delivers a complete five-year worldwide forecast for mobile network subscribers.

“Worldwide mobile subscriptions will grow from 4.0 billion this year to 5.85 billion in 2013, for a compound average growth rate of nearly 8 percent,” notes Leslie Arathoon, vice president of Research at Pyramid and co-author of the report. “About 90 percent of the new subscriptions will come from emerging markets.”

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“Asia/Pacific, already the world’s biggest market for mobile services by subscriber count, will continue to be the top region for mobile subscriber growth, while Africa and the Middle East will surpass other regions to become the second-largest mobile market by subscriber count by 2013,” Arathoon adds.

The report goes on to say while Africa and the Middle East as well as Asia will account for the biggest subscriber gains, Europe will see its share of the global subscription base shrink. By 2013, global mobile subscription penetration will top 83 percent, compared with an expected 60 percent penetration rate at year-end 2008.

The global market for mobile voice and data communications services will be worth $908 billion in 2008. “We expect market revenue to grow at a CAGR of 6.0 percent over the next five years to reach $1.2 trillion by 2013,” says Arathoon.