THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2003
Asian cellphone lines to double by '07: Gartner
REUTERS
SINGAPORE: The number of mobile phone lines in Asia is expected to double to nearly 800 million by 2007, driven by subscriber growth in markets with low penetration rates, research outfit Gartner said on Wednesday.
"The bulk of growth will come from China, India and Indonesia," Gartner analyst Foong King Yew told Reuters.
The US-based firm also forecast a rise in cellular services revenue to $142.9 billion by 2007 from $110.3 billion in 2002.
"Cellular operators in mature markets will be compelled to seek out new revenue streams such as mobile data," Foong added.
The contribution of mobile phone data services to overall cellular services revenue in Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan is projected to exceed 26 per cent by 2007. There was no recent comparative figure in the statement.
Asia's top three markets in terms of handset penetration are Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, at 106.5 per cent, 91.8 per cent and 78.3 per cent respectively as at 2002, Foong said.
"Taiwan's penetration rates are so high because of multiple lines per user," Foong added.
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