Steady growth in the mobile data service revenue in the Philippines is set to help offset the continued decline in mobile voice revenue and enable the total mobile services revenue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.2% from $3.9 billion in 2023 to $4.4 billion in 2028, according to analytics firm GlobalData.
GlobalData’s Philippines Mobile Broadband Forecast (Q1-2024) revealed that mobile voice service revenue will decline at a 10.7% CAGR over the forecast period due to the widespread consumer shift towards over-the-top (OTT) communication platforms and the subsequent decline in voice average revenue per user (ARPU) levels with telcos offering unlimited voice minutes as a part of their bundled packages.
Mobile data service revenue, on the other hand, will increase at a CAGR of 4.2% between 2023 and 2028, driven by the steady rise in smartphone subscriptions and growing consumption of data services over high-speed wireless networks, especially with increasing adoption of higher-ARPU yielding-5G services.
“The average monthly data usage over mobile networks is forecast to increase from 7.1GB in 2023 to 58.7GB in 2028, driven by the increasing consumption of online video and social media content over smartphones, on the back of the growing availability and adoption of 5G services and the data-centric packages offered by MNOs,” said Hrushikesh Mahananda, telecom research analyst at GlobalData.
4G will remain the leading mobile technology in terms of subscriptions until 2026. 5G subscriptions will surpass 4G subscriptions and go on to account for 74% share of the total mobile subscriptions in 2028 driven by the increasing demand for high-speed internet and wider availability of 5G service plans.
“PLDT and Globe will continue to dominate the mobile services market in terms of subscriptions through 2028 given their strong focus on 5G network expansion across the country. Dito Telecommunity will aim to gain market share by expanding its network reach and offering value packaged service plans,” Mahananda concluded.
