A new report from market analyst Infonetics Research has
found that mobile broadband is flourishing worldwide despite the
general gloomy economic circumstances.
In the fourth quarter (4Q08) edition of its Mobile Broadband Cards, Routers, Services, and
Subscribers report, Infonetics found that worldwide, the number
of mobile broadband subscribers soared by 125% in 2008 compared
with those recorded in 2007. This resulted in a total of 210.5
million subscribers for 2008 and Infonetics projects this figure to
reach one billion by 2013.
Infonetics data revealed that there were just over $4.1 billion
worth of sales of
mobile broadband PC cards and embedded mobile broadband cards
worldwide in 2008. Worldwide mobile broadband router manufacturer
revenue grew 114% in 2008 over 2007, but sales of these access
devices were found to have slowed in the second half of the
year.
Overall though, the researcher expects
mobile broadband growth to be healthy in 2009 whatever the
recession may throw at the mobile computing community.
In terms of leading vendors, Huawei and Sony Ericsson were joint
leader in terms of market share in mobile broadband cards by
revenue in 2008, with Sony Ericsson's lead based on sales of
W-CDMA/HSPA cards and dongles, and Huawei's based on both HSPA and
EV-DO and a broader mix of PC card and embedded card formats
Infonetics said that service provider revenue from mobile
broadband services grew 45% in 2008 to total $49.8 billion
worldwide, and expects mobile broadband service revenue to grow by
double-digit percentages over the next five years despite the
inclement economic times.
A key driver in the growth, said, the market research firm, was
the arrival of high bandwidth mobile broadband networks. “With
HSPA going live around many parts of the world, mobile broadband
adoption accelerated in 2008, as mobile networks finally started to
deliver on the promise of high speed mobile access. This, combined
with better devices, gave the market tremendous impetus over the
past year. Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers hit
triple-digit percents in all the major world regions in 2008,
indicating a booming market,” commented 'rw'Richard Webb, Directing Analyst – WiMAX,
Microwave, and Mobile Devices at Infonetics Research