According to the latest update from ABI Research’s “SIM Cards”, global market shipments of mobile SIM cards fell 3.8% to 4.94 billion, with the mandatory personal registration requirements to purchase prepaid mobile standing out to be the single major reason for the 2013 decline in mobile SIMs globally, India being the most recent country to do so. The 10% decline in the mobile market in Asia which has previously enjoyed high growth in this segment, is one of the major contributors for the slowdown in the growth of the SIMs.
The mobile segment received its needed boost with the ongoing upgrade and addition of 4G LTE and NFC-capable SIM cards. However, the market is taking a hit due to the delayed launch of NFC payment services as well as the slow pace of implementations of full-blown IMS for data and voice services across 4G networks in a number of countries. ABI expects orders for SWP and ISIM UICC cards to grow in 2014 as the market returns to progression.
Practice director, John Devlin, comments, “2013 might be regarded as a hard reset in some ways, a point where ongoing subscriber growth can no longer be counted on to drive volumes. While not discussed publicly, many have recognized that this time would come and vendors are refocusing on streamlining their businesses in an effort to either become as cost-efficient as possible in the supply of high volume low-end SIMs or to build up their software platform and service capabilities. It is clear that this is an increasingly dichotomized market and, with the exception of Gemalto, both card and IC vendors have to choose which end they wish to operate in.”
