2010 Australia - Mobile Broadband Market

Mobile data and mobile broadband

Mobile data usage in Australia is increasingly driven by handset developments, most notably the introduction of web-centric mobile handsets such as the Apple iPhone and BlackBerry. Mobile Apps stores which provide a market place for developers to independently market their mobile web services are likely to gain further in popularity over years to come. However in the short-term growth in the mobile data market may be hampered by persistently high charges that some operators levy for transmitting application data. Operators are reluctant to lower prices as that could lead a surge in usage and to network congestion requiring additional investment.

For 2010, BuddeComm predicts that the total mobile broadband market will be generating $2.4 billion worth of revenues, the vast majority of which will be accounted for by 3G mobile broadband revenues. Last year growth continued across a range of platforms and technologies with the use of 3G mobile and wireless broadband services growing by 162%.

The 3G mobile broadband market has hit the decade running. Over the past year Australians continued their appetite to adopt new communication and media services and adapted their usage patterns to meet their specific lifestyle needs. Services such as 3G, VoIP and wireless broadband internet are being increasingly used, with factors such as lifestyle, age and family type shaping these choices.

However, the fixed wireless market is showing only modest growth - operators like Unwired and BigAir are currently using pre-WiMAX proprietary wireless broadband technology, and have been patiently waiting for a decade to make the transition to WiMAX technology. But constant delays have postponed the launch and it appears that WiMAX has bitten the dust leaving operators to develop in niche markets only. By 2018 only 10% of mobile revenues will come from mobile voice; furthermore, that will be based on VoIP.

In this annual publication we provide information on the companies and the services they offer in relation to mobile content. We cover both the activities of the mobile operators and those of the service providers. Companies included are Telstra BigPond Mobile, Optus Zoo, Vodafone Live, Hutchison 3, MessageNet, Be.interactive, Red Oxygen, Oxygen8 Communications, Jamster, Jumbuck, MobileActive and Mnet. Other players in the market such including Sybase 365, Netsize Group, mBlox, iTouch, Mobile Messenger, 5th Finger, SMS Central and Communicator are also covered.

This mainly portal’s based market has remained rather static over the last few years, with more and more activities moving ‘off deck’ to Apps stores. The major mobile media providers therefore are now the digital media providers on the Internet who have established access to their services for mobile devices.

With social networking booming, and consumers increasingly sharing images and videos, having a broadband connection with fast upload speeds is becoming critically important. According to Ericsson, global mobile broadband use in the next five years is expected to reach the same level of penetration as that of second-generation mobile phones which have been providing voice and text messaging today.

All the major operators are currently rolling out networks based on the High-Speed Packet Access standard. These companies are expected to provide even faster mobile data speeds from around late 2010 or early 2011 based on another related standard, Long-term evolution which will support services featuring data rates of at least tens of Mb/s per user. In this annual publication we provide information and analysis of the major HSPA networks in Australia and consider the prospects for operators as they move towards deploying LTE.

M-Commerce and M-Media

Relative to Asian markets, especially in Japan and South Korea, Australia has a small m-commerce industry. The key elements of effective mobile commerce are mobile payments and mobile advertising. Current developments are critical for the development of a larger m-commerce market. No widely adopted standard for mobile payments has been developed in Australia to date.

There are several key issues impacting on the development of m-commerce in Australia. Typically these are issues related to the customer’s experience of m-commerce services and technical issues relating to the telephony infrastructure. In this annual publication we supply information and analysis of developments relating to m-commerce in Australia with a focus on m-banking, m-payments and mobile advertising.

Premium Rate SMS services have developed into a $200 million+ market. However, this is a far cry from the predictions made in the late 1990s, which anticipated a multibillion-dollar market. Despite a decade of mobile data hype, the access charges to PSMS remain far too high and in 2009/10 the market started to contract.

With the advent of capped mobile services and new smart phones such as the iPhone, we now see users moving to the Internet to access a far wider variety of Apps-based mobile content and communication services. In the PSMS market the mobile operators maintain an iron grip through their m-payment facilities.

While SMS revenues continue to contribute far more with respect to overall mobile data revenue than any other data services over the next two years it is expected to reach a peak in its current form then decline as other services come on board. While currently the majority of SMS revenue is earned from messages sent between subscribers. Premium SMS, where messages are sent between content providers and subscribers, is also an important component of SMS revenue.

While there has been much hype surrounding mobile TV in Australia, the concept developed by the mobile operators has so far well and truly failed with operators given a wakeup call with the introduction of the iPhone which began to separate content from carriage. Suddenly all kinds of applications (Apps), including video-based, became available independently of the mobile operators. From now on new developments will revolve around the devices and their apps, rather than the mobile operators.

Market highlights

• HSPA and LTE also enable network operators to move towards an all IP network environment which may reduce network complexity and lower operating costs.
• Declines in the price of mobile data are likely to stimulate growth in 2010/11. Growth in usage may come at the expense of revenue growth as margins are lowered due to competitive pressures.
• Mobile web browsing, however, has grown exponentially over the past year, with a large share of that activity on the back of the rapid growth of smartphones such as the iPhone and BlackBerry devices. The huge success of these devices has given rise to the continued lift in new-application growth over the second half of 2009 and growth will continue to do so through 2010/11 as new handsets are released by various mobile device manufacturers.
• SMS and PSMS revenues are expected to decline sharply in the face of cannibalisation from other products such as mobile email and, in the case of PSMS mobile Internet based services. SMS margins are likely to be significantly higher than those mobile operators earn from mobile data services.
• Prepaid telecommunications products make up a significant proportion of total telecommunication revenues. In 2010 the total revenue from electronic payment systems in Australia is estimated at around $3.8 billion. Prepaid mobile voice services are the largest revenue segment, followed by calling cards, prepaid mobile Internet access, music purchases and gift cards, as well as PSMS services.
• The market is rapidly developing and the arrival of rechargeable magnetic cards is a major new development. The market in Australia is dominated by epay with the major banks and mobile operators commanding smaller shares. Significantly Australian mobile operators expect to further increase revenue earned from sales for prepaid mobile Internet access in 2010. Another growth market is the emerging prepaid electronic transport ticketing services.

Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.