Global mobile subscriptions will cross
six-billion mark by the end of this year and the Asia-Pacific region will
account for more than half of the worldwide figure in 2011, says ABI Research.
Asia-Pacific added nearly one billion
connections for the last two years. Rapid economic developments in the region
and increased rollout of mobile network infrastructure, citizen prosperity, and
affordability of mobile handsets have encouraged adoption.
“Mobile broadband connections will
experience rapid growth over the next two years, driven by 3G network rollouts
in India and China and 4G deployments in Japan and South Korea,” said practice
director Dan Shey, ABI Research.
Less than 18 percent of the three billion
connections in Asia-Pacific are 3G and 4G enabled, but that is expected to
change quickly. China leads the region with100 million 3G subscriptions in
September 2011. TD-SCDMA subscriptions are forecast to hit 100 million by the
end of 2013.
“Subscription growth for the
China-developed TD-SCDMA standard has been slow due to lack of compatible
handsets, but 16 million new connections over the past two quarters suggest
growth is accelerating,” said research analyst Fei Feng Seet.
In India 3G networks went live only
last year and is expecting a healthy growth in subscription. India’s largest
operator by subscribers, Bharti Airtel, launched 3G early in 2011 and gained
three million 3G customers in less than six months of operation. Low-cost smart
feature phones are already entering these markets to drive 3G connections among
consumers.
By Telecomlead.com Team
