Asia may become the largest regional mobile telecommunications market in the world over the next five to ten years, reports analysts In-Stat.
According to the company, in 2004 there were nearly 740 million mobile users in Asia (including Japan, Australia and New Zealand) with total revenue of roughly US$180 billion ($243 billion), the high-tech market research firm says. By 2009, Asian mobile telecom revenues will reach over US$260 billion ($351 billion).
India will be the fastest growing entity in the region, with a 32.8 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in terms of subscribers, and 31.1 percent by revenue, for the period from 2004 to 2009.
In a recent report the company also noted that South Korean handset vendors like Samsung and LG are gaining significant market share in both high-end products and developing markets. And in the equipment area, Sony Ericsson is winning most of the new business, although US equipment vendors like Motorola and Lucent have made significant headway in the market because of their large new deployments of CDMA technology.