Juniper Research has carried out research which confirms a long held point of view – that 3G’s benefits derive more from its ability to accommodate greater numbers of users and network traffic, especially voice, than its support of advanced services delivery
The Juniper research estimates that the total mobile subscriber market will reach 2.7 billion by 2010 and that shipments of handsets will break the one billion mark by 2009 on the back of emerging Asia Pacific markets and increasing replacement rates in mature markets.
3G subscribers are predicted to grow from 30 million in 2004 to over 300 million by 2010.
However, the people at Juniper also identified several challenges for operators and manufacturers.
Chief among these is the need to re-think the approach to handsets and services. The industry is still too preoccupied with technology advances and not focused enough on what makes users tick. Vendors and operators must stop filling mobiles with catch-all baskets of features. In a high-demand environment where the user is king the way forward is to adopt a more sophisticated needs and segmentation based approach to the design of handsets and services.
 Service providers need to review how services are presented and take greater control of their relationships with customers, ensuring, especially, that they are set up with what they need as part of the provisioning process. Â
“Most consumers are turned off by hi-tech acronyms, brand battles or technology for technology’s sake. They want useful services tailored to their needs that can be accessed at the push of a button, at a price they can afford, Â and on a tariff structure they can understand, and they want someone to set it all up for them before they switch on.” says Trevor Howell, author of the report. “Whoever gets this right will reap the benefits of increased ARPU.”
Further details of the new study ‘Next Generation Handsets 2005-2010’ can be found at www.juniperresearch.com.