China: Carriers Eye Mobile Internet Products
Telecom operators in China want "to reverse the slide in average subscriber revenue with the introduction of more attractive service packages, especially mobile Internet products", according to Gartner Group. Research from Gartner's Worldwide Telecommunications and Networking Group indicates the roll out of 2.5 and 3G services in the next 12 to 24 months, to be catalyzing interest in mobile data services. China will have over 76 million mobile users by year's end, about 40 per cent of the Asia-Pacific user base.Chinese industry officials expect the country to be the world's largest telephone market by 2005, once the present 135 million fixed-line users and 65 million mobile users, undergo the next phase of growth. But Gartner expects a slowdown in the region, despite China's dominance of the wireless market in the first half of 2000, with over 60.6 million subscribers, or 32 per cent of the region's 188 million subscribers. The country's data industry should develop at three times that of the national economy, effectively doubling in size.
Gartner also noted a "fairly limited interest in mobile data services" in China, India and Indonesia, where there is "still plenty of room for traditional subscriber growth", network investment and consolidation. Nick Ingelbrecht, of Gartner, attributed a potential slowdown in key Asia-Pacific markets to the fact that pre-paid services and intense competition in Hong Kong and Korea has "soaked up large numbers of lower-yield subscribers during the past year". Related Links
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