Europe : The increasing importance of mobile TV is reflected in the inclusion of two mobile TV services in a new report, The World’s Top Ten Non-voice Services for Mobile Operators, published by Analysys, the global advisers on telecoms, IT and media.

“With mobile operators desperate to increase non-voice ARPU, we pick the top ten non-voice services from a multitude of services worldwide. Detailed case studies of the winning services show the way to major revenue opportunities and quick wins.” said Dr Mark Heath, Analysys Associate ( inset ).

“There’s no excuse for mobile operators failing to increase non-voice revenue, yet many are finding it difficult, despite the availability of 3G networks”, according to report co-author Dr Alastair Brydon. “We’ve identified ten examples of services that could be broadly replicated by other operators in order to achieve success. In both the UK and Italy, 3 shows how mobile TV services can be effective at capturing the imagination of mobile users and delivering much-needed revenue beyond voice and SMS.”

The world’s top ten non-voice services are:

1. Vodafone’s Casa FASTWEB DSL service (Italy)

2. O2’s SMS service (UK)

3. 3’s 3G mobile TV and video streaming service (UK)

4. T-Mobile’s BlackBerry email and instant messaging service (USA)

5. Sprint Nextel’s CDMA2000 EV-DO Revision A mobile broadband service (USA)

6. 3’s DVB-H mobile TV broadcasting service (Italy)

7. KDDI au’s EZ Chaku-uta Full music downloading service (Japan)

8. SK Telecom’s Cyworld Mobile community portal service (South Korea)

9. NTT DoCoMo’s DCMX mobile credit service (Japan)

10. Vodafone’s MiniCall ‘voice SMS’ service (Egypt)

“Mobile TV services are a key element of the 3G service mix that has enabled 3 UK to claim non-voice ARPU of more than USD25 per month, which is currently the highest in the world”, says Dr Mark Heath, co-author of the report. “In Italy, mobile TV subscribers of 3’s DVB-H service generate 60% higher ARPU than its other mobile customers. While some mobile TV services, such as Virgin Mobile’s DAB-IP service in the UK, are making slow progress, 3 shows that it is possible to make a short-term success of mobile TV.”

This new report identifies the top ten services from a large number of non-voice services worldwide, and provides detailed case studies and analysis of these leading services to help others replicate their success. The report provides unique guidance to mobile operators (as well as MVNOs and third party service providers) on the best opportunities to increase their non-voice service revenues.