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Total revenue from the mobile services market in the Philippines is set to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7 per cent from US$3.8 billion in 2023 to US$4.3 billion in 2028.
This is according to analytics firm GlobalData, which attributed the growth to the rising adoption of mobile data services like 5G. Consequently, mobile data service revenue is set to grow the fastest at a CAGR of 4.8 per cent.
The average mobile data usage is also expected to spike within the next five years – from 6.6 GB in 2023 to a whopping 27.1 GB in 2028 – driven by the consumption of high-bandwidth online video services and social media content via smartphones.
“4G will remain the leading mobile technology by subscriptions in the Philippines until 2026,” said Kantipudi Pradeepthi, telecom analyst at GlobalData.
“5G subscriptions will surpass 4G subscriptions and go on to account for 69 per cent share of the total mobile subscriptions in 2028, driven by the network expansion initiatives by the telecom regulator and mobile operators.”
However, mobile voice service revenues are forecasted to decline at a CAGR of 10.2 per cent for the next five years, in line with the drop in mobile voice average revenue per user (ARPU) levels.
“Globe and PLDT will remain the market leaders through the forecast period,” added Pradeepthi.
“Dito Telecommunity, which commenced its operations in March 2021 in the country, has been adding new subscribers to its network through a range of promotional mobile service plans with unlimited texts and free voice minutes.”
PLDT has been ramping up its 5G and networking capabilities in recent years through partnerships with vendors like Cisco in 2022 and Nokia in 2021 to upgrade its nationwide services.
Meanwhile, Globe has been busy with acquisitions and launching a “first-if-its-kind” network virtualisation platform in the country to drive wide-scale SD-WAN adoption.
