Pyramid Research Study: Ringtone Tanking In Latin America

According to the latest forecast data from Pyramid Research, Ringtone isn't where you want to be in Latin America. 

Pyramid, the telecom research arm of the Light Reading (News - Alert) Communications Network, found that Ringtone's revenue falls short in Latin America as mobile Internet access will account for almost 79 percent of all non-messaging mobile data revenue by 2014.

The glass is half full: Pyramid's third quarter 2009 Latin America mobile data forecast found that 11 percent of total mobile data subscribers will be ring tones users by year-end 2009. The glass has a crack in the base: The same study found deeper opportunities for network operators clearly lie in mobile Internet services.

The increasing importance of mobile Internet in the data revenue pie is a clear trend in every single market, growing the fastest in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Mexico, Cesar Jimenez, an author on the report, said, in Pyramid Point's “LA Mobile Operators Turn a Deaf Ear to Ringtones,” adding that in his estimation, by 2014, “mobile Internet access in Latin America will account for $16.5 billion, or almost 79 percent of all non-messaging mobile data revenue, whereas ring tones will make up four percent.”

Written by Pyramid analysts, Pyramid Points are complimentary online notes on market, business and regulatory developments in the global telecoms industry.

In Apri, a Pyramid Research study concluded that in Honduras, 3G subscription will make up 30 percent of the telecommunication market by the end of 2014.

The report said, however, 3G accounts for just two percent of the wireless telecom market in Honduras, which has a population of over 7 million. With a total revenue of $863 million in 2008, the telecommunications market in Honduras ranks 14th in Latin America and fourth in Central America.

However, Pyramid says the market will expand at a CAGR of 4.6 percent over the next five years. “That’s the fourth highest expansion rate in the region,” Jose Magana, analyst at Pyramid Research and co-author of the report, said.

Over the last few years, the mobile market is rapidly expanding in most of the dynamic markets in Central American countries.