Australia cellphone market close to peaking

Mobile Internet, The, May, 2005

A research report has said that the Australian market for cellphones may be nearing the saturation point with some room for growth. According to a research firm which had studied the country's mobile communications and mobile data, 80 percent of the country's subscribers are already using cellphone services.

The little growth that occurs is when new customers subscribe to mobile-phone services. However, the revenue generated is very small. This may prompt operators to explore newer areas to remain profitable in the business. Moreover, there are several mobile technologies in the market, further confusing the consumer. With so much saturation, only the SMS market is growing, and generates close to $1 billion in revenues. However, SMS service is also reaching a saturation point, since it is mainly used by youth. Perhaps the cellphone companies need to turn their attention to the fixed-line market and make efforts to convert fixed-line subscribers into mobile-phone subscribers.