Global mobile communications factory equipment revenue surges

Global mobile communications factory equipment revenue this year will reach USD 235.5 billion, up 7.9% from USD 218.2 billion in 2009, driven by the energetic expansion of mobile broadband in all parts of the world as well as by major increases in sales of 3G cell phones. Growth next year will be even more spectacular, iSuppli data show, when revenue surpasses the quarter-trillion-dollar level and hits USD 271.3 billion. Continued revenue growth seems assured in the years ahead for mobile communications, a wide-ranging market encompassing cell phones, cordless phones, battery chargers, mobile infrastructure, mobile and fixed broadband access devices and wireless LAN equipment such as routers. By 2014, total mobile communications factory equipment revenue will reach USD 359.3 billion. Among the various segments of the market included in iSuppli’s forecast, 3G mobile handsets this year will take up the largest share of revenue at USD 86.4 billion, up 34.6% from USD 64.2 billion in 2009. Revenue is also sizable, although declining, in the older category of 1G/2G mobile handsets—still a significant force in the emerging markets of Latin America, Asia and Africa. Revenue in 2010 for the combined 1G/2G category will fall to USD 55.6 billion, down 18.6% from USD 68.3 billion in 2009. Revenue figures are much smaller in the latest-generation technology known as 4G—a category whose precise definition is in dispute—but growth is highest in this segment. From a paltry intake of only USD 11 million in 2009, revenue is expected to skyrocket to USD 1.3 billion in 2010.