Abstract
This IDC study examines the U.S. mobile services market and focuses specifically on the U.S. consumer mobile services market, both of which are expected to experience steady but declining growth in both subscribers and services revenue over the course of the forecast period. The U.S. mobile subscriber market is about to enter its mature phase, when market penetration reaches saturation levels and subscriber growth slows sharply. While growth in data services will remain a key revenue driver - in particular to offset continued voice ARPU erosion - annual data revenue growth is set to slow sharply beginning in the 2009-2012 time frame. With no new major data service opportunities readily apparent, a continued lack of content interoperability, and generally poor customer experiences with many data services, the forecast decline of annual data services revenue growth at the end of the forecast period will have a substantial impact on the U.S. mobile services industry.
"The days of easy revenue growth are drawing to a close as the U.S. mobile services industry enters a maturing phase, with voice ARPU steadily eroding and no major data service revenue opportunities readily apparent over the next several years," notes Scott Ellison, vice president of Wireless and Mobile Communications at IDC. "This means that beyond competing with one another, the key players in the mobile ecosystem need to work together to create better customer experiences with mobile data services and create new service categories in order to grow the revenue pie and mitigate against the natural tendency to compete harder for the revenue pie that exists today," he adds.
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- IDC Opinion
- In This Study
- Methodology
- Situation Overview
- Future Outlook
- Forecast and Assumptions
- Table: Key Forecast Assumptions for the U.S. Consumer Mobile Service Market, 2008-2012
- Subscriber Forecast
- Table: U.S. Consumer and Business Mobile Service Subscribers, 2007-2012 (M)
- Figure: U.S. Consumer and Business Mobile Service Subscribers, 2007-2012
- Revenue Forecast
- Table: U.S. Total Mobile Service Revenue and Consumer Wireless Service Revenue, 2007-2012 ($M)
- Figure: U.S. Consumer and Business Mobile Service Revenue, 2007-2012
- Figure: U.S. Consumer Voice and Data Mobile Service Revenue Share, 2008 and 2012
- ARPU Forecast
- Table: U.S. Average Total Mobile Services Subscriber ARPU and Average Consumer Mobile Services Subscriber ARPU, 2007-2012 ($)
- Market Context
- Table: U.S. Total and Consumer Mobile Service Subscribers, 2005-2012: Comparison of 2007 and 2008 Forecasts (M)
- Figure: U.S. Total and Consumer Mobile Service Subscribers, 2005-2012: Comparison of 2007 and 2008 Forecasts
- Essential Guidance
- Learn More
- Related Research
- Synopsis
