News
Trend Toward High-Capacity Cards in Asia Pacific SIM Card Market
The subscriber identity module (SIM) card market in the Asia Pacific continues to benefit from evolving smart card telecommunication applications.
Over the years, these applications have grown from simple memory payphone cards to more advanced microprocessor (MCU)-based SIM cards and this has contributed to the continued growth of the SIM market.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.smartcards.frost.com),
SIM Card Market in Selected APAC Countries, reveals that the market is
expected to grow from 660 million units in 2005 to more than 1 billion in
2010.
"The SIM market contributes the most to the total smart cards volume
and value in Asia Pacific," says Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager
Jafizwaty Ishahak. "The development of new applications and content will
continue to drive the growth of SIM/USIM cards and the role of SIM is
expected to evolve with the development of technologies such as near field
communication (NFC) and 3G."
One of the major trends in the Asia Pacific SIM card market is the
growing move toward adoption of high-end cards that promise greater memory
density and better security. This is already being seen in countries such
as Malaysia and South Korea, which are moving toward the adoption of
SIM/USIM cards above 128 K.
Currently, 16K-64k cards account for the bulk of the Asia Pacific SIM
market, but with the increasing popularity of high-end cards, 16K cards
could get completely phased out in the next one to four years. 64K cards
are likely to become more or less the size of SIM in some of the major Asia
Pacific countries.
Cards with 128 K memory are likely to experience the strongest growth over the next three to four years.
Although high-capacity SIMs are considered secure and in theory, cost
effective, the lack of sufficient content and applications could make them
an expensive proposition and deter mobile operators from upgrading to them.
"Positive growth in the mobile data market and the convergence of
non-SIM smart card applications on SIM are likely to positively impact
high-end SIM cards," remarks Jafiz. "64K SIM cards and above are likely to
receive a boost as awareness increases and advanced applications are
incorporated in them."
However, the market is currently witnessing fierce price competition,
leading to falling SIM prices, particularly for low-end cards. This has
resulted in significant revenue loss for many market participants and could
eat into companies' reserve funds for further R&D and innovation, as well
as affect the quality and security of the cards. This is likely to pose a
major challenge to SIM card manufacturers.
SIM Card Market in Selected APAC Countries, part of the 9206- Smart
cards Subscription, provides in-depth country-based findings on SIM
development. This includes price, memory size of cards, total market size
and forecasts, and strategic priorities of mobile operators when selecting
a SIM vendor. Interviews with the press are available.