Mobile Data Market to Reach $150 Billion by 2011

Press Release - February 19, 2007

Mobile phone operators around the world should achieve significant growth in wireless data revenues over the next five years, according to a new report from consulting firm, Informa.

Researchers expect consumers and businesses to spend a total of $150.2 billion on mobile data services in the year 2011, accounting for 19.9% of all wireless revenues. This compares to $89.3 billion and 13.5% of all revenues in 2006.

Informa analyst, Daniel Winterbottom, noted that “mobile operators are going to see respectable growth in revenue derived from data services over the next five years,” but cautioned that “the level of growth will fall short of their expectations at the time they bought 3G licenses.”

Of the $150.2 billion in global revenue, Informa expects that $61.1 billion will come from Asian markets, $50.7 billion from Europe, and only $24.9 billion from North America.

Messaging services, including email, SMS, and instant messaging will continue to generate the bulk (62.6%) of data revenues in 2011, the report predicts, while mobile entertainment and commerce services will also show growth.