Out of one billion mobile Broadband users in 2015, the mobile only users would form 28 per cent of all users or about 13 per cent of world population, says a research report from independent analyst house Ovum.
In the mobile broadband segment, e-book readers, gaming consoles and in-vehicle entertainment are the uses which are likely to spur demand. The analyst house Ovum further forecasts that the mobile broadband market would be dominated by Asia Pacific region.
“Asia-Pacific’s role is extremely important in the fixed-mobile services (FMS) space,” says Nicole McCormick, senior analyst at Ovum.
He added, “The region has the third highest penetration rate of 34 per cent, and also has the fastest growing mobile-only penetration of any region.”
The region is also likely to dominate because of lack of fixed line infrastructure in the growing markets of India and China. At the same time, however, the fixed line broadband is also likely to grow by about 120 per cent by 2015. Users are expected to buy both mobile and fixed line broadband services to remain connected, and for the service providers, it means significant revenue growth opportunities.
The picture appears to be realistic when real world results are taken into account. In recently announced results for Ericsson’s fourth quarter and full year , the company announced more than six fold net income year-on-year, and the growth is driven mainly by mobile broadband market. For the users the figures may not mean much, but they’ll surely notice the growth speed achieved by the mobile broadband segment.