LONDON-Two new research reports cite an improving European mobile arena.
A new Yankee Group report said the industry is adapting to the new dynamics of saturated voice markets, with an overall increasing average revenue per user already evident for some operators this year. The research firm said the industry is at the bottom of the curve and can expect a rise in regional ARPU next year and total service revenues of $131 billion in 2007, with the proportion from voice decreasing from 90 percent in 2001 to 69 percent in 2007.
In addition, the firm said postpaid net additions will surpass prepaid additions in 2003, with Europe’s chunk of the global mobile market falling to about 20 percent from more than 30 percent due to increased growth in Asia and the Americas.
“Mobile revenues will continue to grow, not spectacularly, but healthily, driven by key enabling technologies, stable voice revenues and growing demand for data services,” said Farid Yunus, wireless/mobile European senior analyst. “We’ve said that 2003 will be the turning point. We’re more confident than ever.”
In addition, Pyramid Research has released a new report suggesting Western European operators should refocus on the small and medium enterprises market, which will double in size from $15 billion in 2001 to $33 billion in 2007.
The company said about 99 percent of all businesses in the region are SMEs. “Ironically, in the early days of mobile, operators catered specifically to businesses due to the high costs involved,” said Jonathan Bell, senior analyst of Europe. “Operators need to return to the business market to their margins and competitive advantage.”
