Research company Ovum says data revenue is now the key driver of the UK mobile market and could overtake voice within seven years. The company's latest report says competition is pushing voice prices lower, with revenue from UK voice services expected to fall from £13 billion last year to under £9.5 billion by 2015.
Revenue from data services – led by a demand for mobile broadband - is expected to increase from £6.6 billion at the end of 2009 to £8.4 billion by 2015.
Overall there'll be a drop in total UK mobile revenue from £19.7 billion in 2009 to £17.6 billion by 2015.
Steven Hartley, a principal analyst at Ovum, said "Data is now a key driver of the mobile market and revenues will continue to grow steadily. By 2015 there will be a much narrower gap between the revenues from voice and data and if data continues to grow at the same rate, it will overtake voice in 2017. It is a reflection on the way the market is moving; voice services have become commoditised, while demand for access to the internet on the move has grown rapidly."