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 for $0.20 as opposed to the minimum cost of a call, sometimes costing more than a $1.00. But with capped value plans including texts and voice, prepaid plans with SMS from $0.01, even free during certain times or free on-net, the returns from SMS revenues to the mobile operators have just about peaked.
While the majority of SMS revenue is currently earned from messages sent between subscribers, with many mobile phone data plans in 2011 now also including free access to social networking sites, users are now able to update a single message to multiple friends at virtually no cost. BuddeComm estimates that SMS numbers will begin to fall over the next two years as users make use of the operator portals and mobile email to keep connected and communicate, rather than the previous non-connective 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.
