Telecom Lead Asia: 3G/4G will have a market share of 100 percent in Australia in 2016 from 3G’s share of 70 percent in 2012.
The substantial growth will create opportunities to offer new services as evidenced by operators like Telstra and Vodafone already focused on promoting new services including content, M2M etc.
4G speeds will improve user experience of wireless broadband; Telstra has already launched its 4G services whilst Optus has launched its LTE services.
“With the rising 3G uptake, the data percentage of ARPU has also been rising; with data contributing 49 percent of ARPU in 2012. The trend is expected to continue as consumer demand for wireless broadband and data provision services are expected to boost data ARPU. By 2016, the data percentage of ARPU is expected to reach 61 percent,” said Andrew Milroy, vice president, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific.
Opportunities abound in the data intensive applications for consumer value added services in new areas such as content aggregation, safety/security, video, mobile, online games, M2M and mobile healthcare, stated Milroy.
Tough the heaviest users of mobile services use an iPhone, and Apple is the leading platform by value, Android is the leading mobile OS; low priced Android handsets by Samsung & other players have made Android successful in Australia.
4G LTE service provider, NTT DoCoMo and the National Broadband Network’s introduction of their services have facilitated this shift in emphasis on new services. New emerging services include M-Payments, M2M and M-security, which exude significant potential though still immature.
By the end of 2012, there will be around 30.5 million mobile subscribers in the market, with a penetration rate of 133 percent and a user penetration of more than 100 percent.
Frost & Sullivan predicts that competition between mobile operators is set to further intensify in the near term, resulting in lower mobile call charges for customers leading to ARPU decline.
