The global mobile messaging traffic is expected to double by 2017 and approach nearly 28.2 trillion per year when compared to 14.7 trillion messages, anticipated to be sent in 2012, according to a new report.
Juniper Research’s new report forecasts that the instant message services, which will include a quarter of all traffic per year in five years, are expected to drive mobile messaging traffic growth.
Over-the-Top (OTT) services which include eBuddy, iMessage, Nimbuzz and Whatsapp have been delivering an impact on messaging businesses offered by mobile network operators, as the instant messaging is found to be a cheaper alternative.
Until in recent times, the majority of smartphone owners had contract subscriptions with sufficient messaging allowances, however, the decline in cost of devices has led to usage of services by more and more price-conscious prepaid subscribers.
In the near term, revenues generated by traditional services, including short messaging service and multimedia messaging service will continue to rule the market over the next five years, the report revealed,
Juniper analyst Daniel Ashdown said: "SMS is 30 years old; but it is still going strong because a text message will reach almost anyone."
The report also noted that the many IM services being operated by hardware vendors and Internet brands will drive consumers to their primary products, whilst those make money directly rely on in-app ads.
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Juniper’s report also reveals that a few OTT players are overcoming the problem of community fragmentation with network unaffiliated virtual operators, or NUVOs, who offer a real phone numbers to their users.
