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Cell phone demand to stay strong despite downturn: U.N.
Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:58am EST
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By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA (Reuters) - Mobile telephones are seen as "a basic necessity" around the world and should enjoy persistent strong demand throughout an economic downturn, a United Nations agency said in a report published on Monday.
"With or without a recession," millions of people in India, China, Nigeria, and other emerging markets will seek out mobile phones, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Increasingly cost-conscious households in Europe and North America are also expected to keep up their mobile use, and many will drop their fixed-line telephones as a way to save money, the ITU said in a report released for the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.
"Once a user gets a mobile phone, it is difficult to give up, and in many countries mobile phones have become a necessity," its Confronting the Crisis report found.
"Many communication technologies including mobile telephony and broadband still offer huge growth potential, with or without a recession," it said. "With its strong growth potential, mobile telephony can help facilitate economic recovery."
There were 4 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide at the end of 2008, after an average of 24 percent annual growth since 2000. Saturation rates are above 100 percent in Singapore and Hong Kong, compared with 30 percent in Nigeria and just over a quarter in India, two of the fastest expanding mobile markets.
The ITU said people in developing countries are increasingly reliant on telephones for voice and information services, such as farmers and fishermen who get text messaging for information about commodity prices and the weather.
The popularity of mobiles in developing markets such as China, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh could create an opportunity for a technology "leapfrog" where Internet services could be provided to consumers without computers.
Companies that have invested heavily in emerging markets include India's Bharti Airtel Norway's Telenor, South Africa's MTN, Egypt's Orascom Telecom, Kuwait's Zain and Vodafone's Vodacom.
Afghanistan, where landline cover is almost non-existent after three decades of war, has drawn a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless, Swedish-Finnish TeliaSonera, and the United Arab Emirates' Etisalat.
COST-CONSCIOUS CALLERS
In richer markets, such as western Europe and North America, the ITU said mobile operators may better placed than fixed-line telephone providers because the investments required to maintain cellular networks can be less onerous.
Many developed-world customers are likely to favor their mobiles to home lines as a result of a downturn, but may be more careful about their spending and delay purchases of handsets, its report said, signaling trouble for telecom equipment and gear makers such as China's Huawei and ZTE, Ericsson, Nokia.
Pre-paid and flat-rate packages could also become more popular, according to the Geneva-based ITU.
"There is some evidence that consumers are already postponing plans to upgrade their mobile phone and have become more cost-conscious when making calls," it said. Continued...
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