Fixed Mobile Convergence

Canadian market intelligence firm IE Market Research Corporation (IEMR) forecasts that global mobile payment market revenue will rise to $998.5 billion in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate of 83.7 percent.

The industry is witnessing a number of coalitions among telecom operators, banks and retailers to offer mobile payment solutions around the world, which is contributing for the growth of global mobile payment market.

IEMR usage survey, based on IEMR's Global Consumer Telecommunications Survey that covers 50,000 mobile users in 50 markets globally, found that North American and Western European markets are driving the mobile payment industry and are geared up for the beginning stages of a full-fledged adoption of the digital wallet.

The m-commerce and mobile contactless transactions promote 'less-cash' societies all over the world, according to the survey.

“Globally, we are expecting mobile payment revenue to rise from $47.2 billion in 2011 to $998.5 billion in 2016. Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2012 to 2016 will be 83.7 percent,” said Nizar Assanie, vice president (Research) at IEMR, in a statement.

According to Assanie, among different categories of mobile payment, digital purchases will be the largest category with its revenues increasing from $9.8 billion in 2011 to $250.9 billion in 2016.

IEMR's report analyzes mobile payment transactions by technologies such as NFC, SMS, WAP, and USSD. The report also gives quarterly historical report and annual forecast of mobile payment users, mobile payment transactions by type of purchase such as merchandise, digital products, ticketing, mobile money transfers, bill payments, and pre-paid top-ups.

Meanwhile another recent research report on mobile commerce market available at Reportlinker predicts mobile commerce revenue will touch $10 billion by the end of 2013. The report predicts the future of the industry will depend on two primary scenarios “Application Domination” and “Rise of New Wireless Devices and Tablets”.