But one of the most important statistics from analysis of the mobile business customer in emerging markets is that about 72 percent of all mobile business customers are self-employed or work in businesses of fewer than 100 employees. This presents great opportunities for mobile operators. ABI Research practice director Dan Shey comments, “Smaller businesses in emerging markets still have relatively simple computing and connectivity needs; but these will evolve and become more sophisticated as the regions’ economies grow. Operators in the emerging markets have the opportunity to become the primary solution providers of telecommunications and data services for a vast majority of companies in these regions.”
As part of ABI Research’s Business Mobility Research Service, mobile business customer data is provided for five emerging markets, all updated on a quarterly basis. Emerging market data sets include those for Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. Each database provides a detailed view of all the mobile applications and services that serve mobile business customers’ everyday work needs. Market segmentation is provided at two levels. Mobile services forecasts are provided for voice, messaging, information access, application downloads, line of business applications, mobile broadband and mobile device management services and measured in customers, ARPUs, revenues, and penetration.