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In-flight roaming to rake in $3bn by 2020

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 23 Feb 2016
Juniper says high in-flight mobile roaming charges will continue to be a key hurdle.
Juniper says high in-flight mobile roaming charges will continue to be a key hurdle.

In-flight roaming revenue for global telecoms operators will reach nearly $3 billion (R46 billion) by 2020, doubling the value estimated for this year. This figure includes mobile voice, data and SMS, and comes from a new report from Juniper Research.

Despite the fast growth rate predictions, in-flight roaming will still only represent around 5% of total global operator billed mobile roaming revenue by 2020.

The new research noted revenue will largely be driven by increasing data usage while on-board an aircraft. It argued these would primarily stem from consumers being attracted by a combination of price reductions - the result of reduced retail roaming charges - and an increase in the availability of higher speed data services.

The increasing number of service introductions by airlines has translated into an increasing number of active users over the past 12 months. For example, AeroMobile reported a 56% increase in the number of passengers using in-flight roaming in the first half of 2015, compared to the same period in 2014.

The research observed that while in-flight roaming trends closely follow terrestrial roaming trends, roaming charges continue to be significantly higher.

"High in-flight mobile roaming charges will continue to be a key hurdle for the industry," says research author Nitin Bhas.

"Given the steep pricing levels for in-flight roaming, the average annual spend per mobile roamer on in-flight and maritime roaming services will only represent a modest increase over the forecast period."

Nearly all traffic, whether free or paid for, is delivered via a satellite and there are inherent satellite charges to be included. The research found that while there is great uncertainty among stakeholders on how this market will develop, in-flight mobile service providers will continue to bundle satellite charges into their wholesale roaming packages.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector.

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