Tablets at Mobile Operators: Forecasts of Tablet Subscriptions, Data Traffic, Service Revenue 2010-2017

With global tablet mobile data subscriptions projected to grow 8x from 23 million in 2012 to 188 million in 2017, mobile broadband tablets represent an important incremental growth opportunity for mobile operators. While direct mobile broadband subscriptions on tablets represent less than 10% of the total tablet installed base in 2012, they were a key driver of positive postpaid net additions at leading operators AT&T and Verizon Wireless in Q1 2013. Strategy Analytics forecasts that in 2017 global mobile tablet subscriptions will contribute nearly US$20 billion to operator service revenues and generate almost 3 and a half million Terabytes of mobile data traffic.

With global tablet mobile data subscriptions projected to grow 8x from 23 million in 2012 to 188 million in 2017, mobile broadband tablets represent an important incremental growth opportunity for mobile operators. While direct mobile broadband subscriptions on tablets represent less than 10% of the total tablet installed base in 2012, they were a key driver of positive postpaid net additions at leading operators AT&T and Verizon Wireless in Q1 2013. Strategy Analytics forecasts that in 2017 global mobile tablet subscriptions will contribute nearly US$20 billion to operator service revenues and generate almost 3 and a half million Terabytes of mobile data traffic.