According to Juniper Research, by the end of 2013, the global revenues from mobile music services will reach nearly $14.6bn, and the global user base for mobile broadcast TV services is likely to exceed 330 million.

A sharp fall in ringtone revenues will be more than offset by growth in full-track downloads, streamed music services and ringback tones, according to a new report from Juniper Research which forecasts that global revenues from mobile music services will reach nearly $14.6bn by 2013.

The mobile music report found that many of the key hurdles to mass adoption of full-track services have been significantly reduced, notably handset form factor, memory constraints, and (in some markets) a reduction of data costs. It said that these factors, allied to the increasing willingness of the major labels to participate in mobile ventures and the proliferation of user-generated content in the mobile space, were likely to drive push adoption and usage levels still higher.

The global user base for mobile broadcast TV services is likely to exceed 330 million by the end of 2013, according to Juniper Research. However, initial expectations that growth in the user base would be dependent upon pay-per-view and subscription-based services delivered over dedicated mobile broadcast TV have been revised.

The report found that growth will be driven by the increasing deployment of handsets equipped with chipsets capable of receiving free-to-air analogue and digital terrestrial TV signals: one vendor, Telegent, has already shipped more than 20 million such chipsets.

In terms of user numbers, Japan is currently the largest market for mobile TV services, although it will be challenged in this respect by China by 2013. The global economic downturn is likely to lead to the postponement or even cancellation of the rollout of dedicated mobile broadcast TV services in several markets. Streamed TV bouquets will continue to provide the bulk of mobile TV revenues for the foreseeable future.