South East Asia offers a number of attributes that are particularly conducive to its attractiveness for the mobile industry.
Firstly, and maybe most importantly, South East Asis countries suffer from a general lack in the number of fixed telecommunication lines, often controlled by monopolies.
This not only manifests itself in a very small number of people who actually own a fixed telephone connection, it also results in high fixed-line telecommunication costs, bad service and slow connection speeds. This affects business opportunities negatively.
Moreover, the growth in the number of computer Internet users is slow and ecommerce has not taken off as it did in other Asia countries, especially in India and China.
On the other hand, the mobile phone penetration among the South East Asia population is extremely high – in some countries more than 100 percent of the actual population. This also translates into real numbers.
What’s more, more than 90 percent of these mobile phones are WAP-enabled, and while this technical feature has not yet been widely exploited commercially, most South East Asia countries stand ready with GPRS and 3G technologies.
As so often is the case, it is not the forward thinking planning of executives that defines market developments, but rather the markets themselves in this day and age.
According to studies from Vodafone and Nielsen that were released toward the end of 2008, twice as many South East Asia access the Internet via their mobile phone (10 million) than via their computer (5 million), which is indicative of mobile’s growing clout.
It adds up
Their networks and mobile phone manufacturers have responded to this growing number of mobile Internet users with advertising that focuses on offering easy-to-use, cheap data plans for both prepaid and contract mobile customers.
It is significant to note that the antiquated billing of Internet connections by the time spent online from the early days of analog modem dialups has never even entered the mobile
Internet market.
Rather, users pay for the actual data transfer only. And with only about 10 U.S. cents for 1MB of data traffic, the rates are much cheaper compared to the United States.
Furthermore, wireless carriers are making their money mostly up-front – one of the positive spinoffs of the cash-based business model.
Given the above scenario, it is not surprising to note that South East Asia is not only ready for mobile, but ideally positioned to benefit from the mobile technology explosion.
Mobile is simply the best available one-on-one communication tool to reach their audiences on the widest possible scale.
This is true for companies who wish to enter the market to generate profits as well as the population, which can improve its lifestyle by leapfrogging many developed countries with the use of mobile applications for work and personal use.
The stage is set. It now remains up to the entrepreneurial spirit to create and offer the right services and applications. Forward-thinking companies would be well advised to keep in mind Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ advice that “you cannot always wait for the customer to tell you what he wants.”
Interestingly, it is often smaller, agile service providers instead of the slow-moving, established advertising agencies, who can help companies to develop a sustainable, long-term mobile strategy that fits in seamlessly with their existing marketing efforts.
