According to IDC, wireless remains the most dominant revenue-earner, accounting for 66 percent of total revenues within the local telecom market in 2005, a slight decline from 67 percent in 2004.

The mobile services market continues to expand although growth was slower last year, which IDC attributes to several activities initiated by the operators in the areas of subscriber recognition and pricing, rather than to a contraction in market demand.

IDC's report also showed that for the first time, data services surpassed voice services in terms of total market revenue contribution.

Growth was driven by the increased strategic focus of operators, the growing market for connectivity solutions and the growing sophistication of end-user telecom requirements combined with various promotions for voice rates in both fixed and the mobile segments.

IDC predicts the wireless space to be even more competitive as players continue to strengthen partnerships crucial to delivering content-driven value-added services.