|
|
|
Asia-Pacific Mobile WiMAX |
Healthy Growth In Emerging Markets A Boon For
Asia-Pacific Mobile Sector
Other topics: WiMAX Base Station
Testing,
WiMAX Broadband Wireless Services,
WiMAX Starter Kit
Frost & Sullivan
April 4, 2007
Singapore - Asia-Pacific remains one of the few high-growth mobile
markets in the world. Apart from the vast subscriber base, much of this
growth is driven by drastically reduced calling rates, decline in
handset prices and the expansion of network infrastructure in the
emerging markets of India and Indonesia.
As at June 2006, India has overtaken Japan as the second largest mobile
services market in Asia-Pacific in terms of subscribers, after China. In
fact, with 142.7 million subscribers in 2006 and a mobile penetration
rate of only 13 percent, the market in India still remains largely
untapped. |
| |
|
|
| |
New analysis from global
growth consulting company, Frost & Sullivan (www.wireless.frost.com),
Asia Pacific Mobile Communications Outlook 2007, reveals that the market
- covering 13 major Asia-Pacific economies - grew at a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 24 percent between 2002 and 2006, reaching a
subscriber base of 0.95 billion in 2006. At a mobile penetration rate of
30.9 percent in 2006, the Asia-Pacific mobile subscriber base is
estimated to reach 1.14 billion by end-2007, driven by the robust growth
in emerging markets.
“The impact of the emerging markets on the rest of the region is likely
to grow in significance as regional carriers search for sustainable
growth, and as economies of scale further drives down 3G handset
prices,” notes Frost & Sullivan industry manager Janice Chong. “Of the
expected 190 million net subscriber additions in 2007, 90.8 percent is
likely to stem from the emerging markets.”
With most major cities in emerging markets reaching high mobile
saturation, the focus rests on increasing mobile penetration in rural
areas and the lower-end segments in the next three to five years. The
series of price cuts in voice minutes and the introduction of low-entry
one-nation call rate plans in 2006 prove that raising the affordability
rates among the masses is increasingly important to penetrate into the
lower-end market, which holds strong growth potential for Asia’s
cellular industry.
Mobile broadband is likely to be the next killer application in Asia’s
promising mobile landscape. However, given its limited bandwidth, the
current 3G network may not necessarily be the ideal technology for
mobile broadband. The business case for 3G may not lie in 3G itself, but
in 3.5G or commonly known as high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA),
as 3G ultimately provides a platform for enabling 3.5G.
“HSDPA and WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) are
expected to play a prominent role in 2007, given the number of trials
that have taken place in 2006,” cites Chong. “These, together with
pending issues such as fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), mobile number
portability (MNP), and mobile broadband, are believed to be the major
factors that can potentially change the competitive landscape of the
telecommunications industry.”
While the launch of HSDPA has taken precedence in certain countries,
WiMAX is likely to be the focus in emerging markets such as India and
Indonesia, which lack telecommunications infrastructure.
Elsewhere, WiMAX is expected to remain a niche technology, functioning
as a backhaul infrastructure to complement existing WiFi (wireless
fidelity) networks, and as an alternative wireless broadband access
targeting the higher ARPU (average revenue per user) enterprise
segments. This is mainly due to costly customer premise equipment (CPE)
and the limited availability of WiMAX-enabled handsets and laptop
devices, which are expected to be the biggest market restraints until
2009. |
|
Back to Press room
|
| |
|
