Mobile Communication

Worldwide, the number of subscribers to mobile communication grew at a CAGR of 33.4 percent over the 1998-2003 period. This growth came largely from Asia-Pacific and Europe. Between them these regions accounted for nearly 74 percent of the global mobile communication subscriber base.

According to International Telecommunication Union, the number of mobile phone subscribers across the globe reached 1.5 billion by middle of 2004 as compared to 1.2 billion fixed-line customers.

1998-2003 saw mobile subscription in the Asia-Pacific region has grown at a CAGR of 38.1 percent and in Europe it has grown at more than 33 percent. In Asia, growth has largely been driven by the previously low penetration of telecom companies and services and in Europe lower prices, due to intense competition, pushed up demand.

The increase in subscriber base and penetration levels (see below) has, however, been accompanied by a decrease in average revenue per user (ARPU). According to Yankee Group, ARPU in wireless industry markets declined from USD51.36 in 2003 to USD49.37 in 2004. The recent launch of 3G networks in Europe, on the other hand, and even more so in Asia where these new networks have been in place longer, has already brought about a significant improvement in data ARPU. The growing popularity of multimedia messaging (MMS) is also lifting ARPU.

The period 1998-2003 saw mobile markets in India and China record a high CAGR of 85 percent and 62 percent respectively. Mobile markets in developed countries like the UK and the US, meanwhile, grew at less than 35 percent during the same period. In the fixed telephone services segment, during the same period, India and China recorded a CAGR of 17.8 percent and 24.6 percent respectively, while developed markets grew at less than 2 percent.

Mobile communication: technological trends

Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Technology: GSM is the dominant 2G standard worldwide and is well entrenched in Europe and other parts of the world. Towards the end of 2004, worldwide GSM subscribers stood at 1.27 billion, accounting for nearly 76 percent of the global 2G subscriber base, as shown in Figure 9. In March 2004, as many as 549 GSM networks in 183 countries were up and running. Other technological platforms such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) are beginning to find favour with operators. At the end of 2004, CDMA had 202 million subscribers while TDMA had 120 million subscribers.

GSM networks have a firm grasp on all continents and particularly in regions such as Europe, Asia-Pacific (including India), the Middle East and Africa. GSM is also making significant inroads into the Americas. CDMA technology is used in the Americas and some Asia-Pacific countries, notably South Korea.

CDMA: The Americas are the biggest telecom market for CDMA. This technology is gaining ground in Asia-Pacific, where the subscriber base increased from 55 million in 2002 to 78 million in 2003.

In China, where China Unicom is the only service provider and operates both GSM and CDMA networks, the subscriber base on CDMA reached 16.9 million by the end of 2003 compared to 63.9 million on the GSM network.

Read the full Article with a single purchase – CLICK HERE