Year in review 2012Industry trends
Where the industry is now…
The mobile industry is a large and important sector with six billion global users. Customer growth over the last five years has been rapid, driven by the benefits of mobility, falling prices and rising penetration in emerging markets. However, pressures on revenue growth from competition and regulation are significant and are likely to remain.
- 86% of the world’s population use a mobile phone
- Competition is intense with typically at least four mobile operators in each country and numerous additional alternative communications providers
- Regulators continue to impose policies to lower the cost of access to mobile networks
Where the industry is heading…
The pace of change in the mobile industry is significant with growing sources of revenue from data services such as internet usage; new users from emerging markets; rising take-up of smartphones and tablets; and major advancements in network technology to deliver faster and better services.
- Data services and emerging markets represent the largest opportunity as traditional voice and text services in developed countries reach maturity
- The shift towards smartphones and away from feature phones continues with smartphones representing nearly 40% of devices shipped in the last year
- Significant technological improvements have led to faster data networks and product innovation to improve the customer experience