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On the Cutting Edge of Wireless

Pondering the future of wireless? Look to the Asia-Pacific region, home to some of the most advanced networks in the world.
Japan and South Korea, long in the vanguard of mobile phone service, will soon be joined by Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, thanks to recent 3G network launches, says eMarketer senior analyst Noah Elkin, in his new report, “Asia-Pacific Wireless: Mobility on the Cutting Edge.”

Less mature wireless markets such as China, India, the Philippines and Indonesia also abound in the Asia-Pacific region, and subscriber growth will be far brisker in these countries than in either advanced or mature markets.

Statistics may vary about which region’s wireless subscriber population is expanding the fastest, but on the basis of net additions, there is no denying that the Asia-Pacific region is the world’s primary growth engine. By a good margin, it also is the largest regional wireless market in the world, thanks primarily to the presence of China, which is home to an enormous and still-expanding user population that dwarfs subscriber bases elsewhere in the world. Steep growth lies ahead for India as well, and by the end of the decade it will develop into a major force in the region in its own right.

But growing subscriber rolls is not really the issue, Dr. Elkin says. With the emergence of the micro-prepaid model, an evolution of the consumer-friendly pricing schemes that helped to build the popularity of cellular communications in the Asia-Pacific region (and indeed, throughout much of the rest of the world as well), wireless service is now within reach of even a good portion of the region’s vast low-end market. The challenge is getting users to pay for data and other premium content once they have signed up for service.

Japan and South Korea, two countries where advanced wireless services are now both commonplace and commonly used, have charted a course, but it may not be the same course other countries will or will be able to take. With the bulk of new subscribers coming from the lower end of the market, both operators and handset makers may face margin pressures in the near term.

Reprinted with permission of eMarketer (emarketer.com).