Elsewhere around the globe, there has been significant year-on-year growth in SIM shipment volumes:
- Japan/Korea (+19%)
- Americas (+11%)
- MEA (+10%)
- CIS Republics (+6%)
The primary growth factor in Japan/Korea and the Americas has been a surge in demand for high-end NFC and LTE SIMs, while subscriber acquisition is still fuelling growth in some African markets, particularly in sub-Saharan countries.
Globally, year-on-year NFC-enabled SIM shipments, as reported by SIMalliance members, have risen by 159% to 78m. The strongest NFC market was Japan/Korea (37m shipments), while North America (24m shipments) superseded Western Europe as the second largest NFC market in 2013. Market growth for NFC-enabled SIMs was reported across North America, Greater China, Pacific Asia, Japan/Korea and Europe.
2013 was the third consecutive year that significant shipments of NFC-enabled SIMs have been reported by the SIMalliance membership and each year has brought rapid growth across multiple markets; in 2011, there were 16m shipments of NFC-enabled SIMs, with a further 30m in 2012. This exponential growth trend is likely to continue in 2014.
With a cumulative total of 124m NFC-enabled SIM shipments in the past three years, and a growing base of NFC-enabled phones and NFC-ready Point of Sale (POS) terminals, there is now a far-reaching and stable infrastructure in place for the continued roll-out of NFC services globally. IHS Technology recently reported 275m global shipments of NFC-enabled mobile phones in 2013, with a further 416m – indicating growth of 50% – forecast to be shipped in 2014, while Berg Insights has estimated that 53% of the world’s POS terminals will be NFC ready by 2017.
Global LTE SIM card shipments also increased in 2013, by 103% to 126m, thanks to an uplift in volumes throughout the Americas, Asia and Europe. North America continues to lead the LTE SIM market with 65m shipments in 2013, followed by Japan/Korea (27m) and China (10m). Continuing migration to LTE and 4G networks worldwide will be a key growth factor for the SIM industry throughout 2014, as older SIM cards in the field are replaced.
While Europe witnessed a nominal 1.5% decline in total shipment volumes throughout 2013, the market reflected the increasing demand for newer SIM form factors, also known as micro and nano SIMs, which was seen universally by each region due to the rising number of smart devices using smaller SIMs. It was also the market primarily responsible for driving a 30% global increase in the number of shipments of soldered SIMs designed specifically for M2M applications, indicating the strong opportunity for future growth of the M2M market, which is not constrained by population penetration rates, in Europe.
Frédéric Vasnier, SIMalliance Chairman, comments: “While 2013 SIM shipments were affected by prepaid regulation in multiple Asian countries, and most significantly in India, the global picture outside of Asia is actually one of 7% market growth.
