[Pyramid]: Trends in Mobile Data Services Driving $600B Revenues by 2018

A new report by Ozgur Aytar [pictured], Research Director, Pyramid Research finds that " .. the transformation of the mobile operator business model is evident in data pricing schemes that are innovative and disruptive in an ever-competitive market landscape worldwide:

• Competitive pressures call for operators to take a dynamic approach to tariff plans, whereby they constantly revise pricing and introduce new schemes to gain market share and increase data usage among existing subscribers.
   
• Shared mobile data plans for multiple users or devices have spread outside of the US, enabling operators to draw in the growing installed base of tablets as well as other connected devices
   
• Pyramid Research expects an increasing number of operators worldwide to pursue flat-rate or time-based charging for specific applications (e.g. streaming content and social media) as well as sponsored, zero-rating schemes in 2015 to boost data usage and 4G adoption and leverage the popularity of over-the-top content for upsell opportunities

Pyramid Research expects mobile data revenue to grow annually by 11% between 2013 and 2018, reaching over $600bn as compared to an 0.2% decline in mobile voice revenue in the same period"

See "Pyramid Research explores successful and emerging mobile data pricing strategies" - here.

[Pyramid]: 802M LTE Subscribers by 2017; US, Japan and South Korea Lead

 
A new research by Pyramid Research forecasts much higher growth for LTE adoption than previously forecasted.

The report concludes that "LTE subscriptions globally increased more than fourteen fold, to 11.4m, and Pyramid Research expects that figure to reach 54 million by year-end 2012, representing less than 1% of total subscriptions. By 2017, Pyramid expects the number of LTE subscriptions to reach 802.2 million, a 72% CAGR over 2012 levels, growing to almost 10 percent of global mobile subscriptions"

Previous reports were more modest - see "[Juniper Research]: 430M LTE Subscribers by 2016" - here.

"Although LTE subscription penetration in the Asia-Pacific region will remain lower than the global average, two countries in the region — Japan and South Korea — are leaders in LTE adoption, surpassed only by the US in current and expected new subscriptions in the next three years. By 2017 China and Indonesia will be important growth markets. Latin America will also continue to show lower LTE penetration than the global average. We expect almost 7% of mobile subscriptions in Brazil to be LTE by 2017, making the regional giant an important driver of global growth in LTE, despite lower than average adoption". 

See "LTE Opportunities Revealed in New Research Series" - here.