Personal handyphone systems to be 15 pct of China mobiles by 2010

Forbes.com picks up an AFX story that covers a report from Pyramid Research, which predicts "Personal handyphone systems (PHS), a low-cost limited-range mobile service, will account for 15 pct of China's mobile phone market, or around 120 mln users, by 2010."

According to Pyramid, "PHS services, which are offered by fixed-line providers, have enjoyed success in China as 'the poor man's substitute' for mobile services, with prices at least 70 pct lower than those offered by China Mobile or China Unicom."

Pyramid expects "the price difference between PHS and mobile services to narrow" once 3G is intorduced in China and another carrier joins the fray. However, Pyramid thought "fixed-line carriers will continue to offer PHS services here as they are a good source of revenues from low-income users."

The Pyramid report said, "Therefore it is not surprising that both (fixed-line providers) China Telecom and China Netcom revisited plans to invest in improving PHS service quality and introducing new applications offered over the PHS network." According to the report, Pyramind expects "Five year growth rates between 2006-2010 are expected to slow to seven pct, compared to the 120 pct growth seen between 2001 and 2005."