Mobile operators Capex up 9% to $216 billion in 2014: GSMA

Mobile operators Capex rose 9 percent to around $216 billion in 2014, said GSMA in its latest telecom report.

Capex investment will reach a cumulative US$1.4 trillion in the six years from 2015 through to 2020, said the report unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2015).

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In 2014, the mobile industry contributed $3 trillion to the world’s economy or 3.8 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 2020, the contribution from the mobile industry will increase to $3.9 trillion or 4.2 percent of projected global GDP.

The mobile industry directly employed 12.8 million people in 2014 and indirectly supported a further 11.8 million jobs, bringing the total to 24.6 million. By 2020, this figure is forecast to reach 28.7 million, with 15.3 million men and women directly employed by the industry.

The number of mobile subscribers will increase 4 percent CAGR to 4.6 billion by 2020 from 3.6 billion in 2014, said GSMA.

By 2020, almost 60 percent of the global population will subscribe to mobile services, up from half of the population in 2014.

In Europe, nearly 80 percent of the population was mobile subscribers in 2014, while in Sub-Saharan Africa the figure is 39 percent. Global subscriber growth over the next five years will be concentrated in the developing world.

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The number of SIM connections (excluding M2M connections) is forecast to grow from 7.1 billion in 2014 to 9 billion by 2020. Cellular M2M connections are forecast to reach 1 billion by 2020, bringing the total number of mobile connections to 10 billion by this point.

Mobile broadband accounted for 40 percent of SIM connections in 2014, but will increase to almost 70 percent of the total by 2020 as subscribers migrate away from 2G networks and devices. Smartphones accounted for 37 percent of SIM connections in 2014, a figure forecast to rise to 65 percent by 2020.

The smartphone adoption rate is already at 60 percent in the developed world, ranging from 51 percent of SIM connections in Europe to 70 percent in North America. The developing world will lead smartphone growth over the next five years as the average selling price of smartphones continues to decline, adding a further 2.9 billion smartphone connections by 2020.

Baburajan K
[email protected]