Value Added Services to Raise $140 Billion in Revenues

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2010 – Informa Telecoms & Media predicts that data plans and app stores are going to drive revenues up $140 billion over the next 4 years in emerging markets.

Value-added-service – or anything above simply voice service – revenues were $200 billion in 2009 and, according to new research from Informa Telecoms & Media, will rise to $340 billion in 2014.

The study examined emerging markets in countries like China, India, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Argentina and Russia among others, and though they are “emerging” markets, they are expected to account for 36 percent of the global mobile data revenues in 2014.

The service providers have seen uptake in services like mobile payments, peer-to-peer funds transfer and agricultural information services. Even mobile social networking in places like China with their mobile instant message service called Fetion.

Services like these are extremely useful in the daily lives of customers, and the markets have adapted to these needs.

China Mobile and Nokia launched a joint mobile app store earlier this year, and reports say over 4 million mobile apps had been downloaded by March. While app stores are not yet as popular as they are in developed markets like the United States, they are becoming a contributing factor to value-added-service.