LatAm Mobile Users Up 33%, But No VAS Growth

Latin America was the fastest growing region in terms of mobile phone users, growing 33% in 2005 compared to 2004 (Asia Pacific grew 19%, North America grew 15% and Europe grew 9%). However, this growth was in basic mobile services rather than mobile content. However, Pyramid Research expects the percentage of revenue for data to rise to 17% by 2009 from 9% in 2005 (which seems quite a healthy rise to me).
As for average revenue per user…”Average Arpu in Latin America reached about US$14 in 2005, the highlights being Chile with US$13, Brazil with US$14, Mexico with US$18, Colombia with US$11 and Venezuela with US$23,” Erasmo Rojas, Latin America and Caribbean director at GSM agency 3G Americas told BNamericas.”
Cost is one factor against the takeup of mobile content, with most users being on a prepaid service, which further adds the difficulty of easily charging for mobile content. I know why most people are on prepaid after finding out what is required to get a contract-phone in Mexico…still waiting.
This final paragraph in the article makes the situation clearer also: “The executive estimates there will be a massive penetration of value added services once operators and other industry players make mobile content, such as multimedia messages or video streaming, more available.” There are plenty of ways to market and charge for mobile content to prepaid users, it’s something that should be begun…

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