Mobile business customer growth fastest in Asia-Pacific

NEW YORK, USA: Driven by economic growth in India and China, the number of mobile business customers in the Asia-Pacific region will grow at a CAGR of 4.2 percent reaching nearly 300 million by 2014, according to new ABI Research forecasts.

Says practice director Dan Shey: “Demand and supply drivers are coming together to grow the mobile business customer base. Mobile networks are expanding and are being upgraded to 3G and 4G. There is a growing services economy with a highly mobile, educated, and low-cost labor pool. Finally, the Asia-Pacific region is in the best position to accelerate out of the world financial crisis and grow economically.”

The new market data set shows:
* The number of self-employed customers will grow slightly faster than public/private sector customers; however ARPU growth from the self-employed will lag due to lower adoption of data services.
* While ARPUs will decline as lower-income workers adopt mobile services to serve business needs, certain segments will experience income growth. Average customer revenues will rise in the finance, insurance, and the scientific and technical services sectors due to greater adoption of mobile broadband services.
* Revenue growth will be 13 percent higher in the medium and large businesses segment compared to the SOHO and small business segment.

Shey concludes, “The Asia-Pacific region is on the cusp of a new stage of economic growth. Mobile telecommunications will be a key growth enabler for the business segment and a pivotal contributor to this region’s competitiveness in the world market.”