Mobile services set to rise

Revenue from video services is expected to triple this year

Increasingly powerful handsets are driving mobile services growth

Global revenue from mobile video services jumped 317 per cent to almost $200m (£100m) between 2005 to 2006 and is expected to triple this year, according to a recent report.

The report, from research firm Infonetics Research, also says the number of international mobile video subscribers increased more than 300 per cent between 2005 and 2006 and is set to soar to over 46 million by 2010.

Drivers for this strong growth include increasingly powerful and efficient handsets and the anticipated analog broadcast signal switchoffs.

'We will continue to see healthy growth in the mobile video services market as mobile operators expand the bandwidth of their existing 3G networks through, roll out dedicated broadcast networks, and deploy new mobile video service delivery platforms (SDPs),' said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband and IPTV at Infonetics.

The report also says the number of mobile video handsets sold worldwide nearly doubled from 2005 to 2006.

Asia Pacific will be the regional stronghold of mobile video subscribers until at least 2010, according to the research, commanding 57 per cent of the world total last year. This is followed by Europe, Middle East and Africa at 31 per cent, North America at 10 per cent, and Central and Latin America at three per cent.

'We expect to see a spike in mobile video service revenue in 2008 due to the Summer Olympics in Beijing which, similar to last year's World Cup, is a deadline for many operators to get their mobile video services up and running,' said Heynen.