State of global mobiles
By Bala Shah

Chetan Sharma Consulting is a management consulting and strategic advisory firm focused on evolving trends, emerging problems and opportunities, new business models and technology advances in the mobile communications industry to the next level. Some of its clients are NTT DoCoMo, Disney, China Mobile, KDDI, Sprint Nextel, Sony, Qualcomm, Samsung, KTF, SAP, Motorola, Comcast, Reliance Infocomm, AT&T Wireless, Alcatel-Lucent, Hunter Douglas, BEA, Skype, HP, Merrill Lynch, Bain, Virgin Mobile, Cincinnati Bell and American Express.

Chetan even has a glowing reference from ex President Abdul Kalam.

Chetan Sharma Consulting, in its latest ‘State of the Global Mobile Industry – Half Yearly Assessment 2011’, has many interesting facts and figures

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The global mobile industry is the most vibrant and fastest growing industry. We expect the total revenue in the industry to touch approximately $1.3 Trillion in 2011 with mobile data representing 24% of the mix. Global Mobile Data revenues are expected to eclipse $300 Billion for the first time in 2011. It is also the first year in which non-messaging data revenues will make up the majority of the overall global data revenues at 53%.

We expect the total number of subscriptions to exceed 6 billion by the end of 2011. The first 1 billion took over 20 years and this last one is going to take only 15 months. The primary growth drivers are India and China which are cumulatively adding 75M new subs every quarter. Indian and China are also entangled in the race to the billion. At the end of Q2 2011, China was ahead by 50M but India is adding subscriptions at faster rate and is likely to eclipse China before Q2 2012. By then, both nations are expected to exceed 1 Billion in total subscriptions making up 31% of the global subscriptions.

Mobile Trends for 2011

1. Total Global Subscriptions to hit 6 Billion

–India and China racing to a billion a piece

2. Total Global Mobile Revenues to hit $1.3 Trillion, almost 2% of Global GDP

–Top 10 operators control 43% of the global mobile revenues

3. Total Global Mobile Data Revenues to eclipse $300 Billion

–Non-messaging data now owns 53% of the global mobile data revenues

4. Mobile Devices are now exceeding traditional computers in unit sales + revenue

–Majority of the device sales in the US are now smartphones. Device Replacement is shrinking

5. Mobile Broadband (4G) is being deployed at a faster rate than previous generations

–Over 1 Billion broadband connections by 2011

6. Global Mobile Apps revenue has shifted to off-deck

–The decline is directly proportional to the increase in smartphone penetration by region

7. All major markets are consolidating with the top 3 players at 85% of the market

–Regulators will have to be more prudent and proactive about managing competitiveness and growth

8. Mobile Data Traffic will be 95% of the global mobile traffic by 2015

–Many countries are facing spectrum exhaust in the next 5 years

9. Connected device segment is growing at the fastest pace

–Operators will have to quickly adapt their strategies to stay relevant in this segment

10. Several multi-billion dollar opportunity segments are emerging

–Mobile Advertising, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Wellness, Mobile Games, and Mobile Cloud Computing to name a few
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