China would be at par with the US as far as cellular penetration is
concerned. According to Gartner Dataquest Asia, China is Asia’s top mobile
market. Surprisingly, the Internet penetration in China lags far behind its
cellular penetration. Hence, it is expected that the new Internet users will
have their first Internet experience over wireless rather than wire line
systems.
Causes of High Mobile |
|
At present, the percentage of cellular subscribers in China is just 6.8
percent. But it has been predicted in a study — ‘China Wireless Market’
— that China’s CAGR would be 21.6 percent between 2000 and 2007, which would
bring the country’s total subscriber base to about 334 million by 2007. The
Strategis Group estimates that there will be a total of 120 million subscribers
by the end of 2001. China Mobile, the country’s largest cell phone carrier, is
already planning a new billing system, which will encourage more cell phone
users to sign on. China Mobile aims to have 100 million mobile subscribers by
2005, with 40 million on a CDMA network.
The high cellular penetration has motivated top telecom companies like Nokia
and Ericsson to increase their market shares in China. The demand in China for
budget phones is enormous and Ericsson has designed the A2638sc to meet this
demand. This is the first phone that is designed to fit a specific market.
Top Markets | ||
Country | 2.5G subscribers | 3G subscribers |
China | 48.9 million | 26.3 million |
Japan | 14.4 million | 21.5 million |
Germany | 16.0 million | 8.6 million |
UK | 14.7 million | 7.9 million |
France | 12.3 million | 6.6 million |
Italy | 10.5 million | 5.7 million |
US | 11.1 million | 2.8 million |
Spain | 7.6 million | 4.1 million |
Korea | 5.3 million | 5.3 million |
Australia | 3.9 million | 2.1 million |
Source: The Strategis Group |
Causes of Growth: Increased cellular penetration in China is driven by
factors like increased competition, lower terminal prices, service packages and
rapid adoption of pre-paid services. The country is in full swing to lead the
cellular market.
A Glance at Other Markets
Asia: In the year 2000,
mobile phone subscribers in Asia-Pacific hit 230 million, representing
nearly 52 percent of growth as compared to 1999. And China topped the list
with 85.3 million subscribers. Apart from China, Philippines and India have
also registered a strong growth year after year. The former had 6.3 million
mobile subscribers in the year 2000 — up by 132 percent increase from
1999, while the latter surpassed 3.1 million subscribers to register an
increase by 97 percent.Europe: A
study by Strategy Analytics has predicted a strong growth in the demand for
mobile services in Western Europe over the next five years. Cellular
penetration in the region is set to increase over 80 percent in 2004. This
will contribute to a CAGR of 21 percent in mobile service revenue over the
period. The market is projected to be worth almost $200 billion per annum by
2004.North America:
From 1994 to 1999 cellular penetration rose from 15.6 to 42 percent of
households and it is expected that by 2003, nearly 57 percent of all North
America households will be digital cellular subscribers.
It is clear from the above that the main challenge, now, for
mobile service operators, is to continuously upgrade their services to ensure
compelling applications and rich content. The idea is to continue to remain
appealing and relevant to the users.