Executive Summary

Between 1993 and 1997, the value of the total UK mobile phone market increased from £1.01bn to £5.27bn, an increase of 420.8%. During the same period, subscriber numbers increased from 1.5 million to 7.1 million. In 1997, the UK mobile phone networks carried a total of 6.81 billion call minutes.

The mobile phone market includes network services for the transmission of voice or data signals, via mobile cellular systems. These services include both analogue and digital mobile services that do not require any kind of fixed link. The industry derives its revenues from: connection fees, monthly line rental charges, call rates and interconnection fees. In the UK, all calls are charged by time and distance.

Over the last decade, the pace of change in the mobile phone market has been frantic. Market deregulation, improvements in technology and new consumer tastes have all been important factors in the dramatic growth in this sector. This pace of change is appears to be slowing, but may in fact accelerate as mobile telephony becomes increasingly integrated, not only with fixed link telecommunications, but also with other technologies such as computing and multimedia.

Of all the telecommunications sectors, Key Note anticipates that the mobile phone market will experience the most dramatic growth. The market will be driven by a number of factors including: international market deregulation, increasing competition, changing employment patterns, digital network rollout and new trends in telephone ownership. Key Note anticipates that by 2002, the mobile phone market will be worth £8.45bn. Key Note anticipates that, between 1998 and 2002, the total number of call minutes will grow to 15.34 billion.

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