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Driving Value for 3G Service Today and Tomorrow
7 November , 2005

ASIA : The Taipei-based Market Intelligence Center (MIC) held an international forum on 3G services under the auspices of the Information Technology and Intelligence Service (ITIS), a government program to promote high-tech industries in Taiwan.

Co-organized with its research partner, the Nomura Research Institute (NRI), the half day symposium attracted more than 100 industry hardware manufacturers, operators, and content providers. As the event theme indicated -- Driving Value for 3G Service Today and Tomorrow -- the experiences of early movers such as Japan, Korea and Europe’s current and future 3G deployments were shared by NRI and MIC senior analysts. At the panel discussion session, key executives from NTT DoCoMo and Korean mobile internet solution provider Widerthan, as well as Taiwanese operators Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Mobile, shared their views on future opportunities of 3G application and services.


Whether in terms of the regulatory environment or industry competition,, 2005 marks the beginning of Taiwan’s entry into 3G services. According to MIC, 1G, 2G, and even 2.5G pricing, has been widely accepted in Taiwan, leading to penetration levels of over 86%. The research house expects Taiwan's 3G subscriber scale to reach four million in the next one to two years. "However, operators will need to beware of the pros and cons of the launch strategies of others. The key is to decide what value-added services and new A/V content can stimulate consumer interest," said MIC.


According to Mr. Naohiro Yoshikawa, General Manager of NRI’s Information Communication Industry Consulting Department I, 2005 will see the 3G era begin in earnest. By July 2005, global 3G subscribers reached around 47.1 million, and by end of 2005, global 3G connections are expected to exceed 65 million.


Japan

According to NRI, as of August, 2005, there were 22.4 million people using 3G services in Japan, among which NTT DoCoMo’s FOMA subscribers account for 15.8 million, followed by Au (5 million) and Vodafone (1.6 million). Considering the high subscription growth, by end of 2005, 3G subscribers will account for more than 50 percent of total mobile phone subscribers.


However, regardless of the growth of these services, ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) continues to decrease. In response AU has adopted double fixed monthly rate, bringing a 6,800 Yen increase in its ARPU and surpassing that of NTT DoCoMo. In 2006, the market will be even more competitive due to new operators such as Softbank, e-Access and IP-Mobile.


Korea

In Korea, as of July 2005, there were approximately 12 million 3G subscribers. SKT is the major operator with 7.5 million connections. In addition, Korea began MNP (Mobile Number Portability) service in January, 2005. LGT adopted a low price strategy and cooperated with Mobile Banking. As a result, it has increased its market share. Unlike the ARPU decrease in Japan, Korean operators were able to maintain ARPU through focusing on Internet and multimedia service. In the second quarter of 2005, SKT ARPU was 44,105 Won, representing sequential growth of 3.6%, and 2.9% year-on-year growth.


Europe

According to MIC industry analyst Sophia Lin, as of August 2005 there were 14.1 million 3G connections in Europe. By country, Italy leads with 6.75 million users, followed by the U.K. with four million. The largest operator is Hutchison, which has 8.4 million subscribers, Vodafone follows with 2.5 million. "Interestingly, despite its scale Hutchison does not have a 2G subscriber base in Europe, yet was able to build up by moving directly into 3G with add-on services and fixed monthly charges," commented Ms. Lin. "This underscores not only the ways in which 3G is allowing new entrants to disrupt the current order, but also demonstrates how business models can be tuned to induce take-up on the consumer side."
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