LONDON-The global mobile user base will exceed 1.78 billion by the end of 2007, according to new research from the Yankee Group, with Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) remaining the largest regional wireless market.
The average compound annual growth rate worldwide will be 8.7 percent, with Asia-Pacific leading with a 13.6-growth rate, accounting for 38 percent of the total revenue for the period, according to Yankee.
Mobile data services are expected to account for 25.9 percent of global revenue, well up from 8.5 percent in 2002, according to Yankee Group. Moreover, data will make up more than one-third of all wireless revenue in Asia Pacific.
“The mobile communications industry is on track to reach its target of 2 billion customers worldwide,” said Declan Lonergan, wireless/mobile Europe director at Yankee Group. “The only uncertainty that remains is the timing of this next major milestone. At projected growth rates for the remainder of this decade, the industry will struggle to achieve 2 billion subscribers by 2010, but it will come close.”
