2011 outlook for global communications industry

TAIWAN: MIC TrendTracker is a brief summary of our research findings, providing you leading indicators of the ICT industry.

Mobile broadband subscribers to grow over 40 percent in 2011
The number of global mobile subscribers is forecasted to reach the level of 5.8 billion in 2011, with mobile broadband subscriber base projected to see especially rapid growth owing to the deployment and upgrade of mobile broadband infrastructure. It is projected that number of global mobile broadband subscribers will grow by over 10% to about 1.04 billion in 2011.

HSPA and TD-SCDMA to see rapid subscriber growth
With various telecom operators upgrading infrastructure to 3.5G HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) and above, it is forecasted that the number of HSPA subscribers will top 600 million in 2011.

Meanwhile, with the Chinese government and China Mobile aggressively promoting the TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) industry chain and launching CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) subsidization, it is forecasted that TD-SCDMA subscriber base will see an addition of over 30 million in 2011.

Worldwide Mobile Communications Subscribers by Technology, 2011Source: MIC, December 2010.

WiMAX expected to maintain growth momentum in emerging markets
In the emerging markets, owing to the continuous construction of WiMAX infrastructure and WiMAX carriers' promotions by means of high-end Smartphones and low-price CPE, it is projected that WiMAX subscriber base will top 18 million in 2011.