Synopsis
Previously, SMS revenues have contributed exponential returns to the mobile operators based on the cost of transmitted data with respect to overall mobile data revenue. With revenue from a simple SMS often at more than thousands of dollars a megabyte for just 160 characters, users often chose to send an SMS that is usually under $0.30 as opposed to the minimum cost of a call, often costing more than a $1.00.
But with many capped value plans using prepaid and/or postpaid, these include texts and voice in the cap and this freedom to communicate is also encouraging users to continue to use this type of messaging. However these free on-net or unlimited SMS availability have seen revenues from this market sector to the mobile operators peak in 2011. But SMSs can also provide instant user attention as opposed to an email that may be unread for a number of hours or days.
While the majority of SMS revenue is currently earned from messages sent between subscribers, many mobile phone data plans in 2012 now also including free access to social networking sites. Phone users are now able to update a single message to multiple friends at virtually no cost. BuddeComm estimates that SMS numbers/revenue will begin to fall over the next two years as users make use of the over-the-top services, iMessage and mobile email to keep connected and communicate, rather than the previous operator method of SMS.
This report provides an overview of the mobile data SMS market in Australia, including SMS usage statistics, and analysis of key market trends.
For information on premium SMS, where messages are sent between content providers and subscribers, see separate report: Australia - Mobile Media - PSMS Portals and Apps.
Key developments:
Short Messaging Services (SMS), PSMS, MMS, regulations, iMessage, OTT services, revenue
Companied covered in this report include:
Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, VHA, 3.
