Mobile TV heads mainstream

The Asia Pacific mobile video services market is expected to hit mass adoption after 2009, while mobile advertising will require another 18 to 24 months from now to develop and entrench fully within the mobile TV ecosystem, according to a Frost & Sullivan report.

"Amid the growing interest in triple-play and mobile advertising, mobile TV has been the buzzword in the Asia Pacific mobile and wireless market," Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Shaker Amin says. "The recent spate of trials and the commercial launches of broadcast networks in Japan and South Korea indicate that the mobile TV fever could well catch on throughout the Asia Pacific region."

The report, ‘Asia Pacific Tunes Up for Mobile TV', reveals other than runaway leader South Korea, 11 markets (Singapore, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand) in 2007 collectively recorded mobile video revenues of US$56.4 million (S$77.92 million), which made up less than 12.8% of the total market share. South Korea commands the remaining share.

The report states in most of these markets, data plan pricing still remains relatively high which has been largely restraining the market growth. Other restraints include the still exorbitant prices of handsets, piracy, and higher disregard for intellectual property, as well as the lack of compelling content.

"In most markets, mobile video service becomes especially expensive when a user exceeds the stipulated amount of data in a ‘flat-rate' plan," Amin says. "Considering that this is a major restraint to greater uptake, mobile operators could follow the example of South Korean operators who have implemented an ‘eat-all-you-can' flat-rate for data charges to encourage adoption."

Collectively, the market for mobile video services in the 11 countries is expected to reach US$691.6 million (S$955.51 million) in 2013, the growth rate for which is spurred on by the urgency to arrest the falling mobile ARPU (average revenue per user), and the enticement of mobile advertising to provide a new revenue stream for mobile operators.

As such, according to the report, more mobile operators are increasingly being challenged to open up their mobile ecosystem, and to compete more aggressively. Many operators have already deployed or are in the process of deploying 3G networks and other high-speed networks, which have cost those carriers billions, and getting subscribers pay for new services such as video will help them recoup part of the large investments. Besides subscription fees, carriers will also be able to generate advertising revenues.