Communication:Text messaging will stay popular over the next five years, despite rising competition from mobile messaging apps, according to research firm Informa Telecoms Media.

Applications such as WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage may have eaten into SMS revenues, but analysts say operators will still pull in about $722.7 billion between 2011 and 2016 as users send a total of 9.4 trillion messages.

Western Europe will continue to lead in terms of generating revenue, accounting for $174.1 billion over the five years.

In second place, Informa says, will be the Asia Pacific developing market, with a total of $173.8 billion.

Overall, global revenues from text messaging are set to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 3 per cent, although there will be some slowing of growth expected in developed regions, with the potential for a small decline.

“There will not be a uniform decline in mobile operators’ SMS traffic and revenues as a result of the adoption and use of over-the-top messaging services,” says Pamela Clark- Dickson, senior analyst in Informa’s mobile content and applications division.

“Factors such as the operators’ pricing strategies and the penetration of smartphones and mobile broadband in a market will determine how quickly and to what extent substitution occurs.”

However, its share of global messaging traffic is expected to decline to 42.1 per cent, compared with 64.1 per cent recorded in 2011.

Mobile instant messaging, in contrast, will increase from 1.6 trillion messages to 7.7 trillion messages, with a 34.6 per cent share of the traffic.