A sharp uptake in services such as video-on-demand and downloads will contribute to pushing revenue from mobile video from just over a hundred million dollars this year to over the $2 billion mark in 2013, according to the latest data from ABI Research.

ABI's Mobile Video Services report shows that mobile entertainment is, along with the availability of 3G networks, one of the main drivers for the mobile video surge this market and predicts that mobile video uptake will only increase as 4G networks based on technologies such as LTE and WiMAX come into being.

"Video services revenue will only amount to about $121 million this year," commented senior analyst Mark Beccue. "But the growth curve is very steep indeed, and will only continue to accelerate through the end of our forecast period in 2015."

ABI warns though that before revenues can be realised a number of key gating actors have to be addressed. It believes that the persisting global recession may affect consumption and that the growing adoption of OTT video services will provide intense competition for d mobile video services.

Furthermore, and despite the hype surrounding smartphone which seem to be launched on a weekly basis, ABI argues that there is still an insufficient range and variety of video-capable mobile devices. Also because the industry is still in its infancy, mobile video business models are regarded by the analyst as still being immature and imperfectly matched to consumers' preferences.

"Mobile network operators mustn't settle for the role of undifferentiated mobile ISPs that manage ‘dumb pipes'," Beccue cautioned. "They should provide a variety of mobile video services and leverage strategic ecosystems until they upgrade their networks to provide quality video services. Partnering with device OEMs and software solution providers will help to optimise mobile devices. This will contribute to an already significant investment, but the rewards will be great."

ABI Research's "study focuses on regional mobile video services that are branded or co-branded by MNOs and provided to mobile consumers for a periodic subscription fee or a per unit transaction fee, including video telephony and video messaging, P2P and Web 2.0 video sharing, and mobile video entertainment.