Mobility - Voice and Data Market Intelligence

Industry Outlook & Drivers

Global Mobility - Voice and Data Industry Outlook

The global market size for mobility services, in terms of the total number of subscriptions, was 5 billion in 2017. By 2020 

• The market is expected to witness further growth in the next three to four years to reach 9.7 billion overall mobile subscriptions, and the global mobile penetration rate is also expected to witness growth from 65 percent to 73 percent

• As far as technology adoption is concerned, global 3G and LTE coverage have crossed 90 percent and 55 percent, respectively

  

Global Mobility - Voice and Data Market Maturity

• The North American and European mobile markets are highly matured, and mobile penetration is nearing saturation levels. Subscriber growth and  penetration are expected to be low from 2016 through 2020. In APAC, mobile markets in Australia, Japan and South Korea are categorized as developed markets, whereas China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Vietnam are categorized as developing markets

Global Mobility - Voice and Data Market Trends

• The North American mobile market is highly matured, and mobile penetration is nearing saturation levels. However decline in mobile voice revenue is compensated by data traffic/consumption. North America will lead in mobile subscription expected to be for 5G by 2020
• The European mobile market has been witnessing a trend of M&As in the past five to six years, which has led to increases in competition. The market is expected to witness the same for the next two to three years
• Compared to the European and North American markets, M&A activities are low in the APAC as well as MEA markets. As far as new technological advancements are considered, these markets have the potential to grow
• 4G developments have already commenced in developed markets, and the licensing of 4G spectrum is expected to be completed in developing markets
• Political Impact: Security threat remain as the major risk associated with telecom operator. The government is focusing on nation/company specific trade barriers. Currently, Australian government is preparing to ban Huawei technologies in supplying 5G network equipment, considering the concerns related to data security

Global Mobility Market Overview

• The North American and European mobile markets are highly matured, and mobile penetration is nearing saturation levels. Subscriber growth and penetration are expected to be low from 2016 through 2020.
• In APAC, mobile markets in Australia, Japan and South Korea are categorized as developed markets, whereas China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Vietnam are categorized as developing markets.
• The subscriber penetration rates are slowing down globally and are expected to reach 70 percent of the global population in the next five years. The market is expected to be driven by Latin America and developing countries in APAC, namely India, Indonesia, China, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. A segment with the opportunity for growth is mobile internet.

Global Mobility –Drivers and Constraints

Drivers

Demand for OTT applications and BYOD

• Consumers switching to OTT applications such as Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google voiceover calls and SMS are driving the mobility market
• All these enterprises focus on high operational efficiency and would like to enhance workforce productivity. This shift in the market is driving enterprise mobility
• Increasing adoption of enterprise mobility in the massive banking and financial sectors is driving the mobility market

Increase in demand for cloud-based solutions

• The rapid adoption of enterprise trends, such as cloud-based solutions, Big Data and the emergence of data-intensive IoTs are driving mobility services such as VoIP and SIP trunking services

Demand for mobile data traffic

• Demand for the share of video traffic, file sharing and audio on smartphones and tablets has increased rapidly, which in turn is resulting in demand for high-speed internet

Constraints

Industry regulations

• The telecom industry is highly regulated, with regulations governing M&A activity, data and price.
• These regulatory regimes frequently restrict the company's ability to operate in or provide specified products or services in designated areas and require the company to maintain licenses for its operations

Decline in ARPU & Churn rate

• Customers are becoming highly sensitive to any negative experience and tend to switch from one operator to other. Hence, giving a tough time to service operators to retain their customer
• With customer attrition, service providers not only lose customer acquisition cost but also lose revenue for a year

Increase in Capital expenditure/Operational Expenditure

• Operational and deployment activities from the suppliers side has become a huge challenge. By the time suppliers receive returns on investment on a particular technology, they are forced to invest on deploying a newer technology in order to maintain a competitive edge.

Pricing Models

Usage-based Fee

• This model is also referred as the ‘Pay as you Go’ model.
• In this model, the user purchases a certain amount of credit before the phone is used
• The phone can be used until the credit expires or runs out

Flat Recurring Fee

• This is a contract-based model
• In this model, the buyer pays a fixed fee on monthly or annual subscription basis
• The flat recurring fee model can either be limited or unlimited, based on the buyer’s requirements