Non-voice applications are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.2 per cent through until 2010, while both the total market and voice applications will increase at a smaller CAGR of only 16.1 per cent and 10.8 per cent respectively in the next three years.

This year, IDC predicted that the total wireless market in Thailand will be Bt157.6 billion, of which around Bt16 billion will be non-voice applications and Bt141.6 billion will be voice applications.

The strongest non-voice applications are still ring tones, ring-back tones, and full-track songs, which also generated the greatest proportion of revenue for the wireless market last year.

The total mobile music market this year is expected to reach Bt805.22 million, up from the total market for last year which was Bt696.92 million. The figure is forecast to reach Bt908.96 million by next year.

Looking at the details, ring tones will be the largest contributor to the mobile-music market from 2006 to 2008, whereas ring-back tones are expected to generate the highest revenue in mobile music offerings because the price of each ring-back tone is higher than a ring tone. However, full-track music is growing and expected to double in the next two years.

IDC also said the total number of mobile-phone users in Thailand this year is expected to reach Bt43 million subscribers, 16.2 per cent growth over last year.

Last year the number of mobile phone users was 37 million, which was a 21.6-per-cent increase from 30 million in 2005. Last year AIS subscribers numbered 18 million, DTAC had 11 million, and True had 5 million, while the rest were Hutch subscribers.

Smart handheld devices (SHD) are playing an important role in influencing the number of wireless applications, especially non-voice applications and value-added services. There are three main operating systems - Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Linux - influencing wireless services in Thailand. IDC divided SHD into three categories - PDA (pen-based SHD), Smart Phone (voice-based SHD), and PDA Phone (data-based SHD).

Last year, the total SHD market was 1.69 million units, expected to reach close to 2 million units this year, and forecast to reach 2.79 million units by 2010.

Smart Phones this year are expected to be 1.55 million units, of which 99 per cent will use the Symbian OS. The total PDA Phone market this year is expected to grow 26 per cent from last year's 135,426 units. Windows Mobile and Symbian represent the majority of OS in use.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation