Mobile communication : Data services prove to be the new cash cow

Consumers increase use of OTT services, CMOs record strong growth in revenues

KARACHI: For Pakistan’s mobile telecommunication companies, data services have turned out to be a cash cow. With increased use of mobile social applications and over-the-top (OTT) services that allow free messaging and calls in the country, the telecom sector witnessed a strong growth in its revenues from data services in fiscal year 2014 (FY14).

Data revenues of telecom sector clocked in at Rs90 billion during FY14, registering a growth of 24.6% – more than double of 11.66% as of FY2013 – Pakistan Telecommunication Authority revealed in its annual report earlier this week.



The cellular mobile segment was the main catalyst, accounting for more than half of the telecom sector’s overall revenues. The data revenues of cellular mobile operators (CMOs) reached Rs47 billion during the year under review, translating to a year-on-year growth of 47.4%.

“This is a healthy sign in the wake of 3G and 4G services in the country and shows that the use of internet and data services on the cellular mobile has been increasing,” the telecom regulator said in its annual report.

As of June 30, 2014 data revenues account for 19.3% of the telecom sector’s overall revenue, up from 16.4% at the end of FY13 – the number for cellular segment, too, increased from 7.3% to 10.1%.

Changing trend

According to PTA, the data revenue trend is likely to continue in the coming years with increased use of smart phones, tablets and laptops in the consumer market and an uptake of OTT services, such as WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook messenger, which will eventually replace traditional voice communication.

Import of mobile phones showed record growth in FY14 as handsets worth $544 million were imported during the period, a 21% year-on-year increase.

Although voice traffic continued to show impressive growth (40%) in FY2014, conventional text messages – one of the main revenue streams for cellular mobile segment – struggled against the more popular social media applications.

The total number of SMS exchanged over the cellular mobile networks dropped to 301.7 billion during FY2014, down 4% compared to 315.7 billion last year, statistics showed. The average SMS per cellular subscriber per month also reduced to 180 in FY14 compared to 214 of FY13.

The telecom regulator attributed the decline in conventional text based messages to the rising influx of smart phones and use of mobile internet, OTT and social media applications that have reduced the subscribers’ dependence on traditional mode of SMS.

Though these OTT services have triggered the growth of CMOs’ data revenues, free messaging and calling services also dented the sector’s average revenue per user (ARPU), a key economic indicator to measure the average revenue that service providers generate from a single subscriber.

In FY14, the cellular segment’s monthly ARPU decreased to Rs199 compared to Rs211 of the last fiscal year, according to statistics compiled by PTA. The regulator, however, clarified that the ARPU was calculated based on the number of SIMs sold till that time and the actual ARPU was higher.

Quoting a GSMA’s market analysis on Pakistan, the regulator said the cellular subscribers in the country possess 2.17 SIMs on average, which translates to an actual monthly ARPU of approximately Rs432.

“The considerable drop in ARPU signifies the prevailing tough economic environment in the country,” PTA said in the report, adding, “The increase of withholding tax from 10% to 15% in June, 2013 also limited the subscriber usage patterns.”

Explain further, the telecom regulator said stiff competition and tariff wars also affected the revenue generation of CMOs.

“The increasing use of smart communication applications via internet is slowly eroding the need for traditional SMS and voice calls,” the PTA said. “Therefore, it is imperative for the cellular mobile operators to focus on providing innovative data services and promote the use of mobile broadband that could help improve ARPUs significantly.”

The PTA, however, added that the recent introduction of next-generation mobile broadband services would help increase the revenues of the cellular operators.

The writer is a staff correspondent

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th,  2015.

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