Following a decline in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile services revenue in Australia is expected to maintain a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4% and reach US$14.9bn in 2025, supported by strong growth in mobile data service revenue, according to GlobalData.
An analysis of GlobalData’s Australia Mobile Broadband Forecast Model reveals that the mobile voice revenues is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.7% between 2020 and 2025, driven by the steady rise in voice subscriptions. Mobile data service revenue, on the other hand, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.7% over the same period, driven by the strong growth in the higher average revenue per user (ARPU)-5G subscriptions.
Aasif Iqbal, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData, says: “5G subscriptions’ share in Australia is expected to grow from 5.7% in 2020 to 34.2% in 2025 supported by 5G network expansions by all the three major operators i.e., Telstra, Optus and Vodafone Australia.”
The Australian government’s plans to auction high band 5G spectrum (in the 26 GHz band) in the first half of 2021 for faster, high-capacity 5G services, and allocate low-band 5G spectrum (in the 850/900 MHz band) in the second half of the year for broader geographic coverage of 5G services will pave way for further evolution of mobile services market in the country.
Mr Iqbal concludes: “Telstra led the mobile services market in Australia in terms of mobile subscriptions in 2020, followed by Optus. To drive revenue growth following the lean period, Telstra will focus on M2M/IoT services and 5G network expansion across the country. It plans to switch-off 3G network by June 2024 to free up spectrum for 5G expansion.”
