Mobile-only Internet users to reach 1 billion users by 2015

AUSTRALIA: The global market for mobile broadband will continue to grow rapidly, and by 2015, 1 billion people will use it as their only form of internet access, according to new research from Ovum.

This 1 billion cohort of mobile-only customers will account for 28 per cent of all mobile broadband users globally or 13 per cent of the world’s population by then.

Ovum forecasts that the Asia-Pacific will dominate the mobile-only broadband market, with users forecast to grow from 119.1 million in 2011 to 518.4 million by 2015.

“Asia-Pacific’s role is extremely important in the fixed-mobile services (FMS) space,” said Nicole McCormick, senior analyst at Ovum. “The region has the third highest penetration rate of 34 percent, and also has the fastest growing mobile-only penetration of any region.”

The main reason for the strength of the mobile broadband market in Asia-Pacific is a lack of fixed-line infrastructure in populous markets such as China and India.

But that doesn’t mean that fixed broadband won’t grow. Although mobile-only broadband services are growing quickly, broadband Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) services are forecast to increase by 120 percent globally in the five years to 2015. These users will purchase both fixed and mobile broadband services, providing significant revenue opportunities for service providers, according to a second new report from Ovum.

Ovum also predicts that FMC users in Asia-Pacific will increase from 259 million in 2011 to 465 million by 2015.

“In absolute terms, Asia-Pacific dominates the rest of the world, primarily due to the presence of China, Korea, and Japan, all of which have significant FTTx deployments and are large broadband markets – especially China,” said McCormick. “Bundling opportunities in Asia-Pacific are expected to gathering pace in Asia over the forecast period, as some operators continue to seek ways to protect their fixed line revenue bases.”