As delegates at CommunicAsia2006 this week underscored the continuing growth of high-speed mobile services, one question begs to be asked: Just how much momentum has Asia's much-hyped 3G deployment garnered in this year?

According to some industry observers, Third-Generation (3G) in Southeast Asia, namely Malaysia and Singapore--currently the only two markets where such services are commercially available--has seen starkly different uptakes.

Figures from Singapore's industry regulator Infcomm Development Authority, indicate that, as of end-April, 8 percent of the country's 4.4 million mobile subscribers are 3G users--or over 360,000 users.

Alayne Wong, Asia-Pacific communications research manager at IDC, calls these numbers very encouraging.

"At the end of last year, only 4.1 percent of mobile lines were 3G. In just a few months, this number has doubled," she said, noting that IDC expects this number to grow to 50 percent by 2010. "In addition, 3G services are relatively new in Singapore, having been launched for only over a year."

Nathan Burley, research analyst at Ovum Asia-Pacific, agreed that Singapore's 3G adoption was also growing relatively well. At the start of the year to March 2006, 81 percent of net additions were 3G, he said. This number reflects well when compared to the 98 percent in net additions figure across Western Europe--the world's strongest growing region.

But, it is tough not to compare Singapore's 3G uptake to its northern neighbor Malaysia, especially since both countries launched 3G services at about the same time.

In comparison though, Malaysia's rate of growth has been significantly slower.

According to Wong, as at the first quarter of 2006, only 0.6 percent of all mobile lines in the country are 3G.

This is double the 0.3 percent figure at the end of last year, but overall growth numbers remain very low. Wong attributes the poorer 3G take-up to the lack of national network coverage for 3G, which is unlike Singapore where there is island-wide network coverage.

Malaysia focused its 3G deployment on pockets of high-density areas, she noted, starting with Klang Valley--its government and commercial capital--and then to major cities including Penang, Malacca and Johor Bahru, including the North-South Highway.

Wong noted, however, that this situation was not surprising as operators need to consider their ROIs (returns on investment) when rolling out 3G services.

While Singapore's numbers are encouraging, they pale in comparison to market leaders such as Korea, where over a third of all mobile lines are 3G.

In Australia, Wong expects 3G adoption to pick up significantly after all major operators Down Under rolled out their 3G services last year. By end-2005, 4.7 percent of all mobile lines in the country were 3G. This number increased to about 6.5 percent, as of April this year.

Ringing in the operators
With the mobile market in many Asia-Pacific nations becoming highly mature, revenues from customer growth are slowing down.

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