Growth Forecast for Latin American Mobile Content Revenues

BUENOS AIRES, July 9: A new study from Frost & Sullivan
expects that mobile-content revenues in Latin America will soar from $1.15
billion last year to $8.93 billion in 2014.

Mobile content services accounted for 3.1 percent of all mobile
telephony revenues in the region in 2007. That year, the number of mobile
content users reached 57.1 million or 31.1 percent of the total number of
mobile subscribers. While mobile music continues to be the most in-demand
service, games and video are forecast to gradually gain in popularity.

“With mobile voice revenues per user not growing at the
impressive rates seen in the last few years, Latin American mobile operators
have been investing their efforts in promoting data services,” said Justina
Trotta and Andrés Sciarrotta, Frost & Sullivan research analysts. “Although
mobile messaging is still the dominant component of the region’s mobile data
service market, mobile content services are fast gaining traction.”

The growth will continue to be led by Brazil and Mexico, the
study continues. “In Brazil, about 37.7 percent of the total 122.8 million
mobile subscribers used at least one of the mobile content services in 2007,”
said Trotta. “Mobile music represented 38.1 percent of the Brazilian mobile
content services market revenues, generating $250.2 million in 2007.”

Sciarrotta added that the market is currently limited by the
capabilities of handsets. “The impact of this restraint is, however, expected
to diminish once handsets become more affordable and accessible, enlarging the
addressable market size.”

—By Mansha Daswani