Digital Lifescapes

The financial payments sector has experienced rapid growth. New payment methods have been adopted and enhanced by financial service providers, as we increasingly move towards a global cashless society. Traditional financial IT vendors and payment solution providers are learning to adapt. This will include companies who operate in the prepaid cards marketplace. Prepaid cards are a well-established technology, and part of the evolving payments market. Even so, there have been many new developments and transitions that create opportunities for growth. Digital Prepaid Card Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, the value of digital prepaid card transactions will exceed $3.98 trillion globally by 2028 -- that's up from $528.7 billion in 2023.  By 2028, the value of digital prepaid card transactions will represent just under 60 percent of total prepaid cards spend, up from 15 percent in 2023, demonstrating the rapid growth of Fintech soluti...

Communications infrastructure investment is having a substantive impact on economic development within Latin American. By the end of 2013, Latin American cellular mobile phone subscriptions are expected to grow by 3.9 percent to reach 709.4 million, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. An expanding population base and positive economic indicators for a number of Latin American markets means the region continues to stimulate the interest of foreign and regional telecommunications companies and other investors. At the end of 3Q-2013, while the mobile service prepaid ratio stood at 79.5 percent, the smartphone user base was just 16.1 percent. But smartphone adoption is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 31.7 percent between 2013 and 2018. "Smartphones are presenting mobile carriers with an opportunity to upgrade prepaid subscriptions to postpaid subscriptions," commented Jake Saunders, VP and practice director at ABI Research . An example of this mobile inter...

The cellular mobile communications market continues to attract new subscribers within the African continent -- which in turn is helping to fuel regional and local socioeconomic development. In 3Q-2012, the continent's 54 countries and 1.08 billion people have accumulated 821 million mobile network subscriptions -- that's up 16.9 percent year-on-year, resulting in a cellular subscription penetration of 76.4 percent. In the first quarter of 2013, it's now forecast that cellular phone penetration will eclipse 80 percent, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. Given the fact that a significant percentage of prepaid phone users maintain more than one active prepaid mobile subscription to minimize interconnection charges, there is still subscriber growth to be had. "While Western Europe languishes with barely positive overall growth quarter-on-quarter, Africa managed to generate 4.2 percent growth in the same period," said Marina Lu, research asso...

Due to the global economic crisis, there's been a recalibration of consumer purchasing and usage behaviors which will affect all industries -- including the normally recession-proof mobile phone services industry. Yet despite these market uncertainties, a new ABI Research study shows that even under the worst recovery scenarios, mobile services revenues will continue to grow at nearly 1.2 percent through 2014 -- a 0.5 percent loss over pre-crisis conditions. According to ABI practice director Dan Shey, "A long economic recovery places pressures on mobile operators to compete on price, particularly with undifferentiated voice services. Mobile data services allow operators to counter that pressure. However each region is different." Operators should create strategies that lead customers to maintain nice-to-have data services or encourage addition of more utilitarian ones. Economically, North America has been hit hardest. But mobile data services growth will exceed 8 percent...

Annual mobile service revenues in the Asia Pacific region will increase by more than 16 percent from 2009 to $326.37 billion by end-2013 -- with growth driven by the continuing rise in mobile subscriptions and greater usage of data services. Informa's latest market study forecasts that the region's total subscriptions base will increase by over 500 million, or almost 25 percent, from 2.03 billion at end-2009 to 2.53 billion at end-2013. "The robust growth will be spurred in particular by immense expansion in China and India, and also higher-than-expected subscription increases in developing markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam," said Nicole McCormick, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. Prepaid connections will continue to be the primary tariff option with the number of prepaid users rising from 1.52 billion in 2009 to 1.97 billion by 2013, accounting for approximately 90 percent of total net additions. As a result, prepaid penetration in...

comScore released a quarterly review of the U. S. prepaid wireless industry based on online visitation and online search referral activity to six leading prepaid wireless sites. The study showed strong gains in online activity as consumers increasingly use keyword searches t0 turn to cost-effective wireless service alternatives during the current economic downturn. The combined visitation to these sites grew 37 percent versus year ago to nearly 8 million visitors, representing more than 4 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience. Growth in the category was driven primarily by MyCricket.com (up 107 percent) and Boostmobile.com (up 105 percent), both of which more than doubled in visitation versus year ago. MetroPCS.com and Net10.com also experienced strong gains, growing 63 percent and 37 percent, respectively. Although the marketing messages of most prepaid wireless providers target the youth market, prepaid wireless site visitation data suggest considerable interest in the plans am...