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To: w0z who wrote (578)	8/23/2000 10:33:11 AM
From: All Mtn Ski	Respond to of 1698

Mobile phone users to grow sharply in Europe-report By Paul de Bendern HELSINKI, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The number of mobile phone subscribers in Western Europe is expected to hit 200 million this year and top 300 million by 2004 as mobiles increasingly become part of peoples daily lives, a research group said in a market forecast on Wednesday. ``The European cellular services market...is now a mass market in which more people will own a mobile phone than fixed phone by 2004,'' said International Data Corp (IDC). The sharp rise to 200 million subcribers in Western Europe from 154 million in 1999 should benefit mobile phone operators, who are pumping billions of dollars into buying licences for third-generation mobile phone networks which will give users advanced wireless services. Finnish group Nokia , the world's largest mobile phone maker, said last month the number of mobile phone users worldwide had reached 570 million by the end of June. Pre-paid mobile services, with their low purchase costs and no-strings-attached contracts were the main reason for the widespread success of mobile phones in Western Europe, said IDC's wireless and mobile communications analyst Tim Sheedy. Sheedy told Reuters pre-paid services, which include phone call costs and subcription fees in come countries, were expected to account for 53 percent of the total subscribers this year, growing to 62 percent by the end of 2004. WESTERN EUROPE MOBILE SERVICES WORTH $115 BLN IN 2004 IDC also said it expected the Western European cellular services market to be worth almost $86 billion by the end of the year, rising to $115 billion by 2004 as both operators and Internet service providers (ISPs) launch more services. But the average revenue per user for mobile operators would decrease slightly over the next few years. ``The fall in prices of mobile phone telephony will start to be compensated for by the increased revenues generated by data and value-added services over the next few years,'' IDC said. European operators, such as British Vodafone Group Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: VOD.L) and France Telecom-owned Orange , are bidding for third-generation licences in Europe to be able to offer customers fast advanced multimedia services. But analysts worry high 3G licences costs may mean operators will spend less on networks or pass the cost to consumers. They also question consumers' appetite for mobile services, such as video-on-demand, always-on Internet connections and other services like online guides recommending phone users to dine at certain restaurants in a visiting city. Leading mobile phone makers Nokia, Motorola (NYSE:MOT - news) and Ericsson are investing heavily to develop and bring to the market 3G wireless phones, expecting them to be more of a success than WAP phones. Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) mobile phones, which give limited Internet access and are currently on offer in Europe, have so far failed to take off as expected as some services are seen as too basic or too costly, or the phones are difficult to obtain or cost too much. ``WAP has been overhyped,'' Pekka Sivonen, chairman of Finnish wireless Internet software firm Digia, told Reuters. ``WAP is essential in thinking about wireless but it's only a first step in a marathon.'' IDC's Sheedy was more optimistic about WAP, saying by the end of next year some 90 percent of new handsets will be WAP-enabled in Europe.