190 million Fixed/Mobile Convergence users by 2013

There'll be over 190 million people using converged fixed/mobile services by 2013, according to Informa Telecoms and Media - and 46% of these will be using femtocells. [Source: Telecoms.com]

It's a trillion-dollar industry

Cheer up, everyone. Annual revenue from mobile phone customers globally will exceed a trillion US dollars by 2013 (that's twelve zeroes), when there'll be more than 5.3 billion customers. In fact, by the end of 2013, revenue from mobile operators is expected to be up a third since the beginning of this year - and customer numbers will be up 56%. Needless to say, most of those new customers won't be coming from North America and Western Europe but from the Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin American markets. The figures - from Informa Telecoms & Media - also say voice revenue will make up the majority of that $1.03 trillion figure, although data revenue will more than double from $148 billion in 2007 to $347 billion in 2013. [Source: Telecoms.com]

Mobile TV worth $10 billion by 2013?

Last month we mentioned a study from Juniper Research that said most people with mobiles capable of receiving broadcast TV would only use free-to-air broadcasts and wouldn’t pay for premium services. They estimated revenue from mobile TV users in 2013 would be $2.7 billion. But the latest report from Informa Telecoms & Media says mobile TV revenue could hit US$10 billion in 2013 because we’ll see on-screen advertising taking over from the current subscription model. As you’d probably expect, the strongest growth is anticipated in South Korea and Japan. [Source: Telecoms.com]

Prepay sales outselling 'post pay' 2 to 1 worldwide

Sales of 'pay monthly' contracts may be increasing in the UK, but things are different in the rest of the world. Informa Telecoms & Media says prepaid mobile services are outperforming the traditional 'contract' market at a rate of two to one. They say there were 2.33 billion prepaid subscriptions in the world at the end of 2007, generating $241.9 billion in revenue. Annual growth in prepay sales will drop to around 9% from 2007 to 2013, but will still account for over 80% of new connections. In addition, almost 29% of mobile connections in 2008 aren't expected to be the customer's main number but will be an additional handset. [Source: Telecoms.com]

Mobile data comes home

Within the next five years, more than half of all mobile data is expected to be generated at home. New research from Informa Telecoms & Media says 40% of last year's mobile data traffic was generated at home but it's expected to reach 58% by 2013. Voice usage at home is also expected to increase, from 42% in 2008 to 49% in 2013. [Source: Telecoms.com]

4 billion worldwide mobile users this year

Informa Telecoms & Media has calculated there will be 4 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide by the end of this year. However, it says the five billionth subscription won't be connected until the end of 2011. The International Telecommunications Union agrees with the 4 billion figure... and this ties in with figures from Portio Research, who say 5.8 billion people - 80% of the world's population - will be using mobiles by the end of 2013. [Sources: Telecoms.com; ITU press release; Portio press release]

40 million femtocells in 2013

Informa Telecoms & Media says there'll be over 40 milion femtocells worldwide by the end of 2013, with 22 million added during 2013. As a result, up to 8% of total mobile traffic could be travelling via customers' own fixed-line connections - and networks could save $5.3bn or more in infrastructure costs. [Source: Telecoms.com]

MVNO market is doing okay

A report from Informa Telecoms & Media predicts there'll be 150 million customers using mobile virtual networks by 2013, with 42% coming from Western Europe. That's 3% of the anticipated total number of mobile customers worldwide. The report says targeting specific customer groups has helped MVNOs survive, with discount and community-focussed offerings expected to account for around 55% of MVNO users by 2013. [Source: Telecoms.com]

100 million 3G users in Europe

There are now over 100 million 3G WCDMA subscriptions in Europe - just five years after the first 3G network launched. Informa Telecoms & Media says there were 101.5 million WCDMA subscriptions in Europe out of a total of 910.8 million mobile subscriptions at the end of May 2008; that's 11.1% of customers. [Source: Telecoms.com]

Big brands aren't taking advantage of mobile advertising

Mobile advertising isn't convincing the big brands, according to a new report. Analysts at Informa Telecoms & Media say the global mobile advertising market will increase from around $1.72 billion (£880 million) in 2008 to $12.09 billion by 2013 - but most big brands are spending less than 0.5% of their advertising budget on mobile ads. Currently around 80% of mobile advertising revenue comes from mobile content providers. [Source: Telecoms.com]

Roamers outside Europe paying more for calls

The introduction of the European Commission's cap on roaming call charges last year has led to increasing costs for other calls made abroad. That's the opinion of analysts at Informa Telecoms & Media. They say European mobile operators have raised the price of making 'roamed' calls from other countries into the European Union by as much as 163% over the last couple of years. 15% of EU customers making 'roamed' calls are travelling outside the EU. [Source: Telecoms.com]

A quarter of mobile users on social networks in 5 years?

Almost one quarter of all mobile phone users could be using mobile-based social network services within the next five years, according to forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media. It says 50 million people were using these services at the end of 2007, which is approximately 2.3% per cent of all mobile users worldwide. By 2012, they say the figure will be anywhere between 12.5% and 23%. [Source: Telecoms.com]