In Thailands mobile operators continued to grow market connections in 2009 but at the cost of revenues as they churn in and out what may now be a portion of a connections revenues rather than a connection. Connections growth has now exceeded that of revenues by a factor of ten for three out of the last four years. Nevertheless, Thailand remains our regional groups third largest market by revenues and the two leading operators are backed by regional and global operators with strong funding and market commitment.
On a more positive note data has been responsible for the majority of revenues growth over the same period and a confluence of market technology and licensing factors coupled with positive indicators of data readiness, affordable smartphones, feature phones and access devices suggest that both mobile internet and broadband offer opportunities for new revenue and connections streams. Fixed line growth in this area is evident with base tariffs at mobile postpaid ARPU levels and mobile is able to both compete with and complement this in capturing end-users data budgets and in broadening the market for data services.
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