Mobile phone market seen to reach 2 billion users in '05

[azcellphonejunkie]

Mobile phone market seen to reach 2 billion users in '05
LONDON (Reuters) — The global mobile phone market is set to grow to 2 billion subscribers by the end of 2005, fuelled by strong demand from developing economies in Asia and Latin America, Deloitte & Touche said on Tuesday.

The consulting firm said it expected voice calls to continue to be the primary driver of profits and revenues for mobile phone companies, with volumes continuing to grow steadily on the back of falling prices and rising ease of use.

Mobile penetration would surpass 100% in some markets as users take a second connection for data or for personal use. The mobile industry had 1.5 billion users in June last year.

"The most compelling and lucrative mobile content will continue to revolve around phone personalisation, such as ring tones, real tones, wallpapers and basic games," Deloitte said in its 2005 outlook for the telecoms sector.

Traditional fixed-line operators will continue to face margin pressures because of competition from mobile and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) providers, but the vast majority of voice calls would still originate and end on their networks, the report said.

"They should focus on marketing their superior capabilities and investing in full-featured phones with key convenience features, such as stored number dialling, text messaging and conference calling, to stimulate call volume," Deloitte said.

RFID on the rise

Radio tagging could become the sunrise industry this year, Deloitte said, as sectors ranging from retailing to automobiles drive up adoption of the technology to curtail theft, cut waste and improve productivity.

"In 2005, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) will finally make it out of the lab and into the commercial world ... By the end of the year, more than 10 billion RFID tags will have been sold and used," Deloitte said in its 2005 outlook for the telecoms sector.

Retail giants such as Wal-Mart and Britain's Tesco are in the midst of a drive to replace bar codes with RFID chips embedded in plastic product tags that can track goods and signal the need for restocking, boosting supply efficiency and cutting costs.

Analysts estimate this technology and subsequent cuts in manpower, with inventory control done automatically, could save Wal-Mart, which posts annual sales of about $256 billion, more than $1.3 billion a year.

Deloitte said it expected collecting, collating and presenting RFID data will become a very sizeable industry, with technology companies grabbing the lion's share of revenue.

RFID readers and other hardware could become a healthy market, and RFID applications will find use in sectors ranging from healthcare to construction and transportation, it said.

[agentHibby]

seeing the growth in China helps. If we can see this growth in India and Indonesia, we might get another billion in a few years

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by agentHibby

seeing the growth in China helps. If we can see this growth in India and Indonesia, we might get another billion in a few years

You have to wonder what the highest number we could get to would be. With 6 billion people, you have to think there are at least 1 to 1.5 billion people that are too young to get phones!

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by azcellphonejunkie

You have to wonder what the highest number we could get to would be. With 6 billion people, you have to think there are at least 1 to 1.5 billion people that are too young to get phones!

I guess that would be a safe estimate, I do see kids younger & younger at my kids school getting cell phones already so that # is probobly going to narrow as time goes on.
I wounder how many people in the world are on CDMA & IDEN?

[Andy]

Well of course most people are using GSM, then CDMA, and then IDEN I think...I hope I'm right; I mean there aren't too many big IDEN carriers out there

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

Well of course most people are using GSM, then CDMA, and then IDEN I think...I hope I'm right; I mean there aren't too many big IDEN carriers out there

According to GSM world there are 1.2 Billion GSM users in the world and rising. Check out the site, they have a counter on there that says there are about 7 new GSM subscribers in the world each second! Crazy!!!

Do the math to figure out there are about 800 million CDMA, TDMA and iDEN subscribers. I would guess the majority of these are CDMA...

[Andy]

Well aren't TDMA and iDEN GSM technologies to begin with? Maybe those are counted in with the figure over at GSM world?

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

Well aren't TDMA and iDEN GSM technologies to begin with? Maybe those are counted in with the figure over at GSM world?

Close, iDEN and GSM are forms of Time Division technology...

[Andy]

ah- so they are essentially TDMA technologies

[Fire14]

They may be close, but i don't think they are counted as GSM as far as GSM world or any other ones that count the amt. of users out there. Then again it would inflate the #'s some.

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by Fire14

They may be close, but i don't think they are counted as GSM as far as GSM world or any other ones that count the amt. of users out there. Then again it would inflate the #'s some.

That isn't the point of the site. They are referring to (as far as I can tell) people who are on true GSM networks. Think about it, you can't do the international roaming with TDMA or iDEN like you can with GSM. Time Division is just the platform that GSM uses...

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by azcellphonejunkie

That isn't the point of the site. They are referring to (as far as I can tell) people who are on true GSM networks. Think about it, you can't do the international roaming with TDMA or iDEN like you can with GSM. Time Division is just the platform that GSM uses...

That is what i actually ment, I guess i was super tired & after re-reading it I can see it is confusing & not what I was trying to say. I agree that is what they are saying & sorry if i caused some confusion.

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by Fire14

That is what i actually ment, I guess i was super tired & after re-reading it I can see it is confusing & not what I was trying to say. I agree that is what they are saying & sorry if i caused some confusion.

No problem, probably just your eyes going crossed after all the Wireless Advisor reading...

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by azcellphonejunkie

No problem, probably just your eyes going crossed after all the Wireless Advisor reading...

Yeah that & studying for the LT. Exam next month.

[Shizam76]

Originally Posted by Fire14

Yeah that & studying for the LT. Exam next month.

Oh WoW...good luck Fire! Hope you get the spot

[Gamer03]

Originally Posted by Shizam76

Oh WoW...good luck Fire! Hope you get the spot

Yes, good luck Fire14.

I bet that it is a hard test. I wonder how it compares to the SAT?

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by Gamer03

Yes, good luck Fire14.

I bet that it is a hard test. I wonder how it compares to the SAT?

Thanks guy's I appreciate it. As for comparing to the SAT, No comparison at all we 1st take a written exam of 75 questions & if you pass that then you get to take an oral exam, which is 2 seperate senario's & you need to hit at least 15 main points & some extra points, then they add your senority to it & that is where you score. Basically 60 people start with the exam and usually 18 make the passed list, then you need people to retire to get made. This is my 3rd one so I'm kinda ready for it.