MANILA, The Philippines—According to Merrill Lynch in a recent research study, SMS revenues in Asia, excluding the Philippines, only consist of a minor percentage—between 1 percent and 5 percent—of operators’ revenues due to diverse markets, regulations and immense competition. In Europe, SMS revenue is between 5 percent and 10 percent. The Philippines, in comparison, has the highest in the world at 22 percent.
The study added that the Philippines leads the wireless pack in Asia with an average of 11.2 short message service (SMS) messages sent daily per user. With at least 10 million local mobile users to date, the country generates at least 110 million messages daily, equivalent to about US$2 million in revenues by local mobile-phone operators in a day.
Also, the Philippines still remains almost the cheapest market in the world when it comes to cost per text message sent, only to be bested by China, because of massive economies of scale, at US$0.01 per message compared with the Philippines’ US$0.02 per message. In other countries and regions, the costs are: Australia, $0.11; Hong Kong, $0.03; India, $0.03; Malaysia, $0.03; Thailand, $0.04; Europe, $0.09; and the United States, $0.16, the study noted.
