14 DAY TRIAL // A recently published report from ABI Research shows that the number of mobile broadband subscriptions at the end of the last year reached 271 million, which marked an increase of 43 percent when compared to the previous year. However, the research firm also notes that the GSM subscriber growth is slowing down considerably, and that the increase will reach a flat line by mid-2011.
“There is still some mileage in EDGE subscriptions (28%) and GSM voice-only subscriptions (8%) but otherwise GPRS subs are shrinking,” comments Vice President of Forecasting Jake Saunders, “However 3G and 3.5G subscriptions are ramping up as the ‘need for speed’ encourages end-users to upgrade. At the end of 2009, there were 181 million HSxPA subscriptions. Overall, mobile broadband subscriptions grew to 271 million for a YoY growth rate of 43%.”
The total number of cellular subscriptions at the end of the last year topped 4.35 billion showing a year on year increase of 10.4 percent. According to ABI Research, the growth of mobile subscriptions slowed down visibly in the first half of the last year, being greatly affected by the economic turmoil, while existing users reduced their spending on cellular subscriptions. However, the growth in the area has already started to recover, and the cellular penetration all around the world has reportedly reached 66 percent, the research firm notes.
“There is a very real prospect that within the next five to ten years, cellular subscription penetration will pass through 200% in a number of developed countries,” adds analyst Bhavya Khanna. “USB dongles, embedded modems in netbooks, laptops, tablets and consumer electronics will test the definition of ‘mobile cellular subscriber’. Operators will need to evolve to multiple devices per subscription to retain customers.”
According to the report, the Asia-Pacific region enjoys 45 percent of the worldwide mobile market, although it accounted for only 29 percent of the market ten years ago. The Western Europe market is the next in line with 13 percent, followed by North America with 7.2 percent. The cellular penetration in Asia-Pacific topped only 52.5 percent, ABI Research states, adding that it went up to 140 percent in Western Europe and to 93 percent in North America. The percentage is expected to reach 80 percent of the global population by early 2014, the report notes.
ABI Research’s “Wireless Subscriber Forecasts” series can be found on the research firm's website.