Hong Kong: In a Competitive Telecom Market, LTE and FTTH Boost Revenue

Summary Telecom service revenue in Hong Kong grew 6.6% in 2012, thanks primarily to growth in mobile data. In the highly competitive mobile market, characterized by one of the world's highest mobile subscription penetration levels, 187%, widespread adoption of smartphones, targeted pricing plans and the provision of data-intensive services such as HD video have contributed to the increasing spend in mobile data services. Mobile data traffic is chiefly over 3G networks at present, with the deployment of 4G networks in progress across the country. Key Findings The Hong Kong telecom market generated $5.4bn in service revenue in 2012, a 6.6% increase over the previous year. Mobile data was the most important driver behind this trend, generating $236m more revenue in 2012 than in 2011. Widespread adoption of smartphones, a variety of targeted pricing plans and the provision of data-intensive services such as HD video have contributed to the increasing spend in mobile data services. Most of the mobile data traffic is over 3G networks at present, with the deployment of 4G networks in progress across the country. We expect to see overall service revenue grow at a 5.5% CAGR over the 2012-2018 period. The primary drivers of this growth will be mobile voice and mobile data, which are forecast to grow at CAGRs of 3.3% and 13.7% respectively from 2012 to 2018. Although fixed VoIP will register the highest growth rate of any service, nearly doubling its value with a CAGR of 17.2% through 2018, the service will remain by far the smallest active market segment, with a value of $220m in 2018. Synopsis NA