Informa Telecoms and Media has released a report predicting that teleocs will lose top dog status in terms of mobile content, and it will instead go to large brands. I should point out that this is not necessarily a bad thing for telcos, since the change in market share is almost certainly due to growth of the market, which means more revenues for telcos overall.
“Third party providers are currently receiving less than 30% of mobile service revenues globally according to a new report ‘Mobile Content & Services 2005-2010′ from Informa Telecoms & Media.”
Brand owners and media companies have an existing subcriber/fan base when launching mobile content, giving them an edge that may surpase the telcos edge — that of billing. The report has found a number of issues that create a more favorable environment for third-party content providers, including:
- Mobile network operators opening up their content portfolios
- Increased acceptance by consumers of subscription packages
- Strong brands driving consumers to search out content away from operator portal.
MVNOs will also put pressure on telcos…”Here it is the brand owner which assumes the lead role, aiming to leverage the direct billing channel to generate revenue streams from its content portfolio.” Once again, telcos that embrace the MVNO model will find the usage of their networks increase, which can only be good for them.
Another report from Informa Telecoms and Media shows that the US mobile data market grew by 80% in the year to March 2005, thanks to the telcos finally implementing SMS interoperability. Data typically forms 6-10% of US mobile operators’ total revenues, which compares poorly with Western European operators (which generally get 15-16% of revenue from non-voice sources) and Asia (typically generate 20-30%).
“Thanks largely to SMS, data now typically contributes 6-10% of mobile operators’ total revenues in the States,” observed Mann. “While this still remains some way below the industry average, it marks a significant increase from the 4% recorded this time last year and less than 2% at the beginning of 2003.” Total messaging traffic was up 59% over last 12 months. Total revenues from non-voice services for the four largest US mobile operators totaled more than USD 1.2 billion in Q1 2005, compared to USD 689 million in the same period of 2004.
A chart showing data as a percentage of revenue from the four largest US mobile operators is here.
Related stories:
–Mobile Content Market To Cross $9 Billion in 2006
–Business Using Mobile Data Faster Than Planned
–Personal Content Takes Up One-Third Of Mobile Activity
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