Mobile email and OTT mobile apps such as Whatsapp, Viber, and iMessage have been altering the underlying behaviors of mobile end-users which are impacting usage patterns. Ying Kang Tan, Research Associate, ABI Research said, “The only region with any meaningful positive growth is the Middle East (3.5%).”
A number of operators, such as Singtel and Vodafone, have started to counter OTT apps such as Whatsapp by increasing the quota of bundled SMS their end-users are allocated. Such initiatives may come across as closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. However, there are indications that OTT messaging platforms eclipse SMS in all aspects. Often Whatsapp end-users only use the messaging platform for a select number of contacts in their Whatsapp list. In contrast, mobile data traffic continues its rapidly ascending arc. 2012 is expected to close out the year with 69% growth to 13.4 Exabytes.
Jake Saunders, VP - Forecasting said, “While there is considerable interest in 4G, 3G subscriptions continue to grow because most low-tier and mid-tier handsets are 3G, whereas 4G will remain a premium product for the next couple of years. However, 4G traffic will grow disproportionately to its subscriber base as LTE will encourage greater use of high definition streaming and adoption of rich media/video social-networking services. Over the forecast period, 4G has a CAGR of 120% compared to 60% for 3G.”
The ‘Mobile Subscriber Usage and Traffic Market Data’ tracks mobile data, voice, and messaging usage on a quarterly basis as well as provides country- and regional-level annual forecasts.
