2018 Global Mobile Infrastructure and Mobile Broadband - Mobile maturity differs around the world

Last updated: 15 Aug 2018 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 217

Lead Analyst: Kylie Wansink

Contributing Analysts: Phil Harpur, Henry Lancaster

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Publication Overview

The global mobile industry is a continuously evolving sector which plays a huge part in the economic and social progress of most countries. However there are enormous variances around the world in terms of telecoms and mobile market maturity. With the emerging 5G on the horizon, it is the countries with more mature markets which are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the new technologies. This report provides valuable information, analyses and statistics on the global mobile industry including mobile broadband. It also provides regional mobile market overviews and incorporates BuddeComm’s Telecoms Maturity Index which measures and ranks the maturity of a country’s telecoms industry on a scale of 1 to 100.

Subjects include:

Global mobile communications market – key statistics and trends;
Global mobile broadband market – key statistics and trends;
Global mobile devices market – smartphones, tablets, phablets and wearables;
Global mobile infrastructure – LTE, LTE-A, VoLTE and 5G;
Regional mobile market overviews;
Comparison of the maturity of telecom markets around the world using BuddeComm’s unique “Telecoms Maturity Index” (TMI) for Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America and The Middle East.

Researchers:- Kylie Wansink, Phil Harpur, Henry Lancaster
Current publication date:- August 2018 (17th Edition)

Executive Summary

The more mature mobile markets are progressing towards 5G

Many regions around the world offer a diverse range of maturity when considering the telecoms industry, with some markets having a high level of mobile penetration but low level of fixed broadband infrastructure and others comprising both. Across the board however; the demand for data services just continues to rise with governments and operators investing heavily in installing and upgrading infrastructure to maintain and expand networks.

Substantial investments in LTE technology have occurred in most parts of the world and many countries are now gearing up for the potential opportunities offered by the highly anticipated 5G technology.

Asia is one example of a diverse region with regards to its telecoms industry. It contains a vast array of countries, ranging from those with highly mature and advanced telecommunications markets, that are world leaders in the move towards 5G, such as South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, to some of the poorest and least developed countries such as North Korea and Afghanistan.

Africa also has one of the more diverse mobile markets, with a large number of operators providing voice and data services. The different levels of market development have characterised the mix, with commercially launched LTE services particularly strong in a number of countries such as South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya, and yet still absent in some countries, particularly those with low incomes or with poorly functioning economies. Similarly with mobile data use, there is a close relationship between data take-up and consumption and the condition and extent of fixed-line networks.

There remain some significant differences in maturity within Europe as well. In general terms, the Scandinavian and northern European countries tend to have a higher telecom maturity, followed by those of southern Europe and then those within eastern Europe. Those in eastern Europe were long-hampered by underinvestment during decades under Communist rule. The gaps between these regions are closing however.

Globally, the mobile markets continue to offer huge potential for growth in mobile data, on the back of the sheer volume of mobile services on offer. The rapid take-up has been underpinned by increasingly cheaper smartphone prices and lower airtime tariffs leading to even wider adoption. The next wave for smart phone growth will also involve advancements made with 5G technology and demand for 5G capable devices.

The telecoms industry is poised for further transformation with the highly anticipated 5G technology on the horizon. It has attracted intense interest from the ICT industry and wider community due to its potential to increase opportunities for developments related to IoT including M2M communications, virtual reality, Artificial Intelligence and mission critical communication. It is also expected to enhance overall capacity, speed and latency of the mobile networks.

In 2018 there has become an obvious “race to market” competition around the world with operators and governments all wanting to be the first to capture the opportunities presented by the 5G evolution. In particular, a number of countries in the Middle East are demonstrating significant 5G progress.

In the meantime, 4G LTE deployments and upgrades will remain a key infrastructure priority and we will see continuing mobile broadband growth around the world. Mobile broadband penetration is fast approaching 100% in the lucrative developed markets while the developing markets offer significant opportunities for growth with mobile broadband penetration reaching around a 50% rate.

This BuddeComm annual publication provides valuable information on the diverse worldwide mobile markets. It includes analysis of important global trends supported by industry statistics relating to technologies; subscribers; revenue and mobile devices. It provides information and statistics relating to 4G LTE as well as the emerging 5G technology.

Regionally there is much diversification when comparing the telecoms markets globally. This report includes an overview of the mobile markets in the major regions around the world. It also incorporates BuddeComm’s Telecoms Maturity Index which measures and ranks the maturity of a country’s telecoms industry on a scale of 1 to 100. All countries are placed into one of three categories: Market Leaders, Market Challengers and Market Laggards, according to their Market Index score. Comparisons are also made between the mobile broadband and fixed broadband penetration of the various countries which comprise the regions of Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America and The Middle East.

Key developments:

While there is currently a lot of discussion around 5G - it is 4G LTE which is going to take us through the next decade.
Most global telecommunications spending is now directed towards the mobile industry and this is set to only increase as mobile data and M2M usage continues to grow.
The majority of mobile broadband subscriptions are held in the Asia-Pacific region; followed by the Americas.
The mobile broadband subscriber base across all of Asia continues to grow strongly.
A number of countries in southern Europe have particularly high mobile penetration rates.
There have been considerable advances made in the deployment of LTE in Latin America.
In the Middle East; it is Kuwait that has the highest mobile subscriber penetration in the region.
There remains room for further growth in Africa since many markets still have mobile and mobile broadband penetration rates below the average.
Declining revenue from voice services in the USA is compensated for by high growth in mobile data use.

Kylie Wansink
August 2018

Major trends and industry statistics

Global mobile market analysis – 2018

Highlighted trends

Global mobile subscriptions

Global mobile technologies market share

Global mobile broadband subscriber statistics
The emerging markets to watch
Financial insights

Global mobile spending
Global mobile capital expenditure (CAPEX)
Global mobile revenue
Global mobile ARPU

Mobile data traffic
Leading global operators
Smartphones and handset device trends and statistics

Key mobile device trends
Enviro-friendly handsets
Mobile handset and smartphone statistics

Wearable device trends and statistics

Wearable device categories
Global wearable device market
Enterprise wearable devices
Legal implications of wearables gains attention
Virtual reality (VR) and wearable technology

Mobile industry directions

Data mining – a next driver of mobile revenue
The spectrum issue
Mobile location based services (MLBS)
HetNet architecture
Small cell networks
Monetising mobile towers
Fixed Mobile Conversion

4G LTE – Major trends and statistics

Market analysis

Global LTE subscriptions and deployments
Regional LTE observations

Global VoLTE overview

Case study: VoLTE in India

LTE and spectrum use
Other LTE trends

LTE-B – Embms
LTE-U and LAA

Global WiFi market

Wi-Fi hotspots
Homespots
Venue Wi-Fi
Other Wi-fi trends
Other short-range technologies

5G – Major trends, leading countries and statistics

5G is an evolutionary process
5G in the global context

5G statistics and forecasts

The spectrum issue

5G spectrum developments
Spectrum allocation around the world
5G speeds

Regional overview of progress towards 5G

Examples of 5G developments – selected countries

5G – brief country case studies

China
Taiwan
Finland
Qatar

Key considerations for governments and operators
Key industry consortiums

3G PPP
IMT 2020
5G Vertical Industry Accelerator
5G PPP

5G technologies and services

What makes 5G special?
5G as a platform for IoT and smart developments

The role of fibre in the development of 5G

Regional market overviews

Africa

Overview and analysis
Africa Telecoms Maturity Index (TMI)
Africa Telecom Maturity Index by tier
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Africa fixed and mobile broadband penetration

Asia

Overview and analysis
Asian Telecoms Maturity Index (TMI)
Asian TMI by Tier

Europe

Overview and analysis
Europe Telecoms maturity index (TMI)
TMI versus GDP
Europe Telecom Maturity Index by tier
Europe - mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Europe fixed and mobile broadband penetration

Latin America

Overview and analysis
Latin America Telecoms maturity index (TMI)
TMI versus GDP
Latin America Telecom Maturity Index by tier
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed and mobile broadband penetration

North America

Overview and analysis

Middle East

Overview and analysis
Middle East telecoms maturity index (TMI)
TMI versus GDP
Middle East mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Middle East fixed and mobile broadband penetration
GCC countries fixed and mobile broadband penetration

Pacific

Australia
New Zealand
Pacific Island Countries (PIC)

List of Tables

Table 1 – Regional – mobile broadband penetration – 2014 – 2017
Table 2 – Global – unique mobile subscribers – 2009 – 2018
Table 3 – Regional - mobile subscriptions – 2009 – 2017
Table 4 – Global – market share of mobile technologies – 2018
Table 5 – Global – active mobile broadband subscriptions – 2014 – 2018
Table 6 – Regional – Active mobile broadband subscriptions – 2014 – 2017
Table 7 – Global – mobile CAPEX – 2014 – 2019
Table 8 – Global – telecoms CAPEX – 2008 – 2017
Table 9 – Global - mobile revenue – 2014 – 2020
Table 10 – Global average monthly mobile ARPU and annual change – 2005 – 2016
Table 11 – Regional - mobile data traffic use – 2016
Table 12 – Global top 15 mobile operators by sales – 2016
Table 13 – Leading countries - used smart phone market – 2016
Table 14 – Global – mobile handset shipments – 2004 – 2019
Table 15 – Global – smartphone shipments – 2010 – 2018
Table 16 – Global – smartphone share of handset market – 2009 – 2018
Table 17 – Global – historical - wearable devices by category – market share – 2013 – 2015
Table 18 – Global – wearable device shipments – 2014 – 2021
Table 19 – Global – top 5 wearable device vendors market share – Q3 2015 – 2017
Table 20 – Global LTE subscribers – 2011 – 2022
Table 21 – Global LTE network growth – 2010 – 2018
Table 22 – LTE penetration by region – Q1 2017; Q4 2017
Table 23 – Global VoLTE subscribers – 2017, 2022
Table 24 – Global number of public Wi-Fi hotspots – 2015; 2016; 2020; 2021
Table 25 – Global number of public and private homespots – 2015; 2020
Table 26 – Global Bluetooth device shipments– 2012 – 2021
Table 27 – Global – market share of mobile technologies – 2018
Table 28 – Global – 5G connections – 2019 – 2022
Table 29 – Global –mobile technologies by connections (including 5G) – 2019 - 2022
Table 30 – Potential frequency bands for 5G deployment
Table 31 – Examples of selected countries demonstrating 5G progress
Table 32 – Africa – leading MNOs by subscribers – 2012 – 2017
Table 33 – Asia - Total mobile subscribers and penetration - 2011 – 2017
Table 34 – Europe - Total mobile subscribers and penetration - 1998 – 2018
Table 35 – Latin America - major mobile operators – subscribers – 2012 – 2017
Table 36 – USA – Wireless subscribers and penetration – 2002 – 2019
Table 37– Canada - Wireless subscribers and penetration – 2000 – 2019
Table 38 – Middle East – mobile subscribers by country – 2013 – 2017
Table 39 – Australia - Mobile subscribers, penetration and annual change (with forecast) – 2000 – 2022
Table 40 – New Zealand - Mobile subscribers, annual change and penetration rate – 2001 – 2018
Table 41 – South Pacific Islands mobile subscribers in selected countries – 2011 – 2017/2018

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Mobile broadband penetration – developed versus developing markets – 2014 – 2017
Chart 2 – LTE penetration by region – Q4 2017
Chart 3 – Africa Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita – 2017
Chart 4 – Africa Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Leaders (top tier) – 2017
Chart 5 – Africa Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Challengers (middle tier) – 2017
Chart 6 – Africa Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Laggards (bottom tier) – 2017
Chart 7 – Africa mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration – 2017
Chart 8 – West Africa mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration – 2017
Chart 9 – Southern Africa mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration - 2017
Chart 10 – Central Africa mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration – 2017
Chart 11 – East Africa mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration – 2017
Chart 12 – North Africa fixed and mobile penetration rates – 2017
Chart 13 – West Africa fixed and mobile penetration rates – 2017
Chart 14 – Southern Africa fixed and mobile penetration rates – 2017
Chart 15 – Central Africa fixed and mobile penetration rates – 2017
Chart 16 – East Africa fixed and mobile penetration rates – 2017
Chart 17 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index by Market Category
Chart 18 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 19 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Leaders Category
Chart 20 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Challengers Category
Chart 21 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Laggards Category
Chart 22 – Fixed Broadband vs Mobile Penetration – Top Ten Countries in Asia by Population – 2017
Chart 23 – Fixed Broadband vs Mobile Penetration – Top Ten Countries in Asia by GDP –2017
Chart 24 – Europe - Overall view - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 25 – Europe Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Leaders (top tier)
Chart 26 – Europe Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Challengers (middle tier)
Chart 27 – Europe Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Laggards (bottom tier)
Chart 28 – Europe - mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 29 – Scandinavia and Baltics: mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 30 – Northern Europe –mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 31 – Southern Europe: mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 32 – Eastern Europe: mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 33 – Scandinavia and Baltics fixed and mobile penetration rates
Chart 34 – Northern Europe – fixed and mobile penetration rates
Chart 35 – Southern Europe – fixed and mobile penetration rates
Chart 36 – Eastern Europe – fixed and mobile penetration rates
Chart 37 – Latin America Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 38 – Caribbean Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 39 – Latin America –Overall Telecoms Maturity Index
Chart 40 – Latin America Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Leaders Category
Chart 41 – Latin America Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Challengers Category
Chart 42 – Latin America Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Laggards Category
Chart 43 – Latin America mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 44 – South America mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 45 – Central America mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 46 – Caribbean mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 47 – Latin America fixed broadband penetration versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 48 – Caribbean fixed broadband penetration versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 49 – USA – Wireless subscribers and penetration – 2002 – 2019
Chart 50 – Middle East - Telecoms Maturity Index (TMI) – 2017
Chart 51 – Middle East - Telecoms Maturity Index (TMI) vs GDP per capita – 2017
Chart 52 – Middle East – mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration – 2017
Chart 53 – Middle East - fixed broadband penetration versus mobile broadband penetration – 2017
Chart 54 – GCC members – fixed broadband penetration versus mobile broadband penetration – 2017
Chart 55 – Australia - Mobile subscribers and penetration (with forecast) – 2007 – 2022
Chart 56 – New Zealand - Mobile subscribers, annual change and penetration rate – 2005 – 2018

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Global content delivery ecosystem
Exhibit 2 – Software Defined Networks
Exhibit 3 – Wearable smart rings
Exhibit 4 – LTE definition
Exhibit 5 – VoLTE history: data first, voice second
Exhibit 6 – Fon
Exhibit 7 – Case Study – Airline Lounges
Exhibit 8 – Bluetooth SIG
Exhibit 9 – Key global developments towards 5G standardisation
Exhibit 10 – Key considerations for government and regulators in relation to 5G
Exhibit 11 – Potential 5G elements
Exhibit 12 – Recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Exhibit 13 – Africa – Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 14 – Key Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 15 – Europe - Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 16 – Latin America - Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 17 – Middle East - Key characteristics of telecoms markets by country
Exhibit 18 – Middle East - Generalised market characteristics by market segment

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2018 Global Mobile Infrastructure and Mobile Broadband - Mobile maturity differs around the world

Purchase this Report

The more mature mobile markets are progressing towards 5G

Key developments:

Major trends and industry statistics

4G LTE – Major trends and statistics

5G – Major trends, leading countries and statistics

Regional market overviews

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views