Mexico has the largest short message service market in Latin America and is the second largest mobile market in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the third edition of the Acision Mobile Value Added Service Monitor. It reports value added services sales in Mexico increased by 38% in the third quarter of 2011, generating just over $1 billion and accounting for 31% of all mobile operators’ service sales there.
Of the total of VAS sales, 57% were generated from SMS and multimedia messaging services, totaling $601 million in sales in the third quarter of 2011 and up 32% year-over-year. Almost all of the users MAVAM polled (98%) used SMS (up 3% from Q1 2011), with 59% sending more than one text message a day. This from a survey of SMS, MMS and instant messaging use during the fourth quarter of last year.
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While SMS is one of the most mature services in the market, only 54% of the users polled thought that SMS will remain as important for communication in the future as it is today, with just 25% saying that SMS will be more important in the future. Only 24% of respondents questioned said they used IM services, such as Facebook Chat (49.5% of IM users), WhatsApp (39.7% of IM users), and MSN Messenger (13.4% of IM users), but this is likely due to the lower rates of adoption of smartphones in the region.
Mexico’s wireless telecommunications sector is dominated by América Móvil’s Telcel, which controls about 70% of the market. The domination by a single carrier has pushed government regulators to implement plans to improve the competitive landscape, though the efforts have so far seen few results.
Key points of MAVAM survey:
–57% of VAS sales are generated from SMS and MMS.
–98% of respondents are SMS users, with 59% sending more than one text message a day.
–54% of respondents believe SMS will remain as important for communication in the future as it is today.
–24% of respondents said they used IM services, of which were used:
Facebook Chat = 49.5%
WhatsApp = 39.7%
MSN Messenger = 13.4%.
–Among the top 16 personalized messaging services ranked were multi-SIM (87.3%), auto-send to an e-mail account (79.7%), saved message search (83.5%), reminders (79%) and receipt notification (77%).
–32% of survey respondents said they use MMS services.
–Only 28% of MMS users send more than one MMS per week.
–39% of users believe that the service is too expensive.
To better understand what is going on in the Mexican wireless market, download for free the newest RCR Wireless News feature report in both English (download here) and Spanish (download here). These reports bring you a great overview with insight from several specialists about telecommunications sector in Mexico.
