Mobile phone revenues to top $1 Trillion

Mobile phone operators will see their collective service revenues push through the $1 trillion (£620 billion) mark for the first time this year.

In 2010, some $965bn was generated by more than 900 mobile operators around the world, according to research from Informa Telecoms & Media. The firm now expects that total to exceed $1tn in 2011 before growing to reach an annualised $1.14tn by the end of 2015.

Informa said the impact of the economic downturn on the industry had eased while data usage such as internet access continued to offset "regulatory-driven pressures" on core voice and text revenues. Experts predict that voice call revenues will enter "a period of managed decline" by 2015.