Global revenues from mobile data services are seen exceeding 200 billion dollars this year, up from 157 billion dollars in 2007, driven by the expansion of advanced networks and popular Web-browsing devices like Apple's iPhone.
First-quarter mobile data revenues rose 43 percent to 49 billion dollars, UK-based research firm Informa Telecoms and Media said on Wednesday, with Japanese NTT DoCoMo generating the most such revenue, at 3.6 billion dollars.
NTT overtook China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile operator by subscribers, which made 3.5 billion dollars in sales of non-voice services in the quarter, Informa said.
Telecoms carriers are anxious to drive up data revenues as their traditional business in voice calls is in steep decline, thanks to the rise of Internet telephony and price regulation. Informa said that on average carriers now made one fifth of their total sales from mobile data.
Smart Communications of the Philippines was the only carrier to generate the majority of its income from non-voice services, thanks to the huge popularity of SMS text messaging in that country. The Asia-Pacific region as a whole made up 40 percent of global mobile data revenues in the first quarter, Informa said.