Mobile content services have been catching on fast in Latin America and were responsible for 3.1% of the total mobile telephony revenues last year. The number of mobile content users increased to 31.1% of the total number of mobile subscribers. According to Frost & Sullivan’s Latin American Mobile Content Markets, the market could easily increase from last year’s revenues of $1.15 billion to $8.93 billion in 2014.

The two largest economies of the region, Brazil and Mexico, experienced a 48.5% growth in revenue from 2006 to 2007.

“In Brazil, about 37.7% of the total 122.8 million mobile subscribers used at least one of the mobile content services in 2007,” said Justina Trotta, research analyst. “Mobile music represented 38.1% of the Brazilian mobile content services market revenues, generating $250.2 million in 2007.”

Notwithstanding these favorable market indications, a significant proportion of mobile subscribers are still unaware of the capabilities of their handsets. Furthermore, many users find it difficult to search for the contents they want, especially on WAP portals.

“The Latin American mobile content market is still limited by the fact that not all the mobile handsets are capable of running all mobile content services, especially games and videos,” said Andrés Sciarrotta, research analyst. “The impact of this restraint is, however, expected to diminish once handsets become more affordable and accessible, enlarging the addressable market size.”