Forecast: Chinese value-added services to boom

A new report issued by telecom consulting firm Ovum forecasts considerable growth for the Chinese wireless value-added services market, anticipating revenues of $11.5 billion by 2010, an increase of 48 percent over June 2006 figures. According to Ovum, SMS, ringback tones and WAP are the fastest-growing services among China's 437 million mobile users, although 3G-enabled applications like location-based services, mobile blogging and mobile payments could become particularly popular given the large landmass and the high mobility of the Chinese population.

"Messaging will continue to dominate the [wireless value-added services] sector, contributing to over 63% of total VAS revenues in 2010," Ovum senior analyst Kevin Lee said in a prepared statement. "The growth of the wireless value-added services market in China will likely be driven by the latest change of VAS policy, availability of converged terminals, strong economic growth, rising customer awareness and demand, and increasing foreign investment."

For more on the future of the Chinese market:
- read this release

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