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Asia will Lead Global Growth in Wireless Data Services this Decade
January 10, 2003
Asia Pacific will lead the world in generating revenues from wireless
data services, forecasts third generation mobile industry body The
UMTS Forum. The Asian region as a whole is predicted to exceed 700
million mobile data subscribers in 2010, with approximately half
of these subscribers (320 million) coming from China.
In total, the UMTS Forum expects that annual 3G revenues for operators
in the region will reach US$ 118 billion by 2010, with "customised
infotainment" - personalised access to news, sports results, gaming
and other forms of information and entertainment - representing
36% of all Asian 3G revenues, ahead of simple voice (28%), mobile
access to the Internet and corporate networks (14%) and MMS (13%).
Other revenues will come from location-based services and "rich
voice" services such as videoconferencing that overlay speech with
video, graphics and other forms of data.
The Chairman of UMTS Forum, Dr Bernd Eylert indicated that China
and Japan would lead the way in generating 3G revenues for operators
in the region. With enormous opportunities for mobile growth due
to the country's 1 billion-plus population, Dr Eylert predicted
that China will account for 14% of all 3G subscribers in the region,
just ahead of Japan with 12% of the AsiaPac 3G subscriber base:
"With current mobile penetration rates in countries such as China
and India far below those in many other Asian markets and the West,
there is clearly an enormous opportunity for operators to offer
3G voice and other mobile data services, including areas where access
to fixed-line services is poor or non-existent."
While 112 of the 114 third generation licenses granted to date
worldwide are held by operators who plan to use W-CDMA technology,
Asia will support a mix of 3G deployments using W-CDMA (UMTS) as
well as CDMA. UMTS Forum claimed W-CDMA offers a natural migration
path to 3G for operators of GSM networks, representing a global
customer base of nearly 800 million mobile users. China, for example,
currently has some 200 million GSM customers - a quarter of the
world's entire GSM user base. A number of Asian operators are already
offering their customers mobile data services via a mix of 2, 2.5
and 3G technologies, and many more 3G deployments are anticipated
in the region during 2003 and 2004.
"With operators currently deploying GPRS and 1X networks to meet
near-term demand for mobile data services, widescale adoption of
3G across the region will allow Asian customers to enjoy even more
exciting new services, with the valuable added benefits of additional
speed and capacity", added Dr Eylert.
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