Indian sub-continent mobile data revenues to reach $10 billion by 2015

HAMPSHIRE, UK: Operators are seeking to offset sharp decreases in voice ARPU in the Indian Sub-Continent by focusing on their mobile data strategies, creating tremendous opportunities in the Content & Application sector.

In a new study Juniper forecasts that the operator billed data revenues will increase from $4 billion in 2010 to $10 billion in 2015.

Juniper found that while mobile content service revenues are currently dominated by the Music sector, User Generated Content will in fact surpass Music to generate the highest revenue by 2015. Other entertainment categories like Infotainment will also grow significantly over the period.

According to report author Nitin Smitha, “With operators following the App store concept and launching their own App stores, the mobile content sector is set for substantial development, meaning the amount of content available to consumers will rapidly multiply; hence increased consumption and revenue.”

The new Mobile Indian Sub-Continent report also observed that growth would be further bolstered as 3G deployment gathers momentum, although noting that adoption will be significantly constrained by handset costs.

Other findings from the Juniper report include:
• The Indian Sub-Continent mobile user base is expected to rise from 814 million in 2010 to nearly 1.3 billion in 2015.
• Blended ARPU levels are expected to decline steadily across the region, although the sharp fall in voice ARPU will be partially offset by the steady increase from data services.
• India will provide the largest share of cumulative regional revenues over the forecast period, followed by Bangladesh.