Barcelona: More than 70 per cent of the people on the planet, or more than five billion people, will be mobile subscribers by the middle of this year, according to a study by mobile operators’ association (GSMA).
“Mobile is a global platform that today supports two-thirds of the world’s population, delivering the connectivity and infrastructure that is powering new digital economies and addressing socioeconomic challenges,” said Mats Granryd, director general of GSMA.
Mobile subscribers are expected to mushroom to 5.7 billion from 4.8 billion a year ago or three-quarters of the world’s population by 2020, with Asia accounting for around half of the total growth.
In the developed world, subscriber growth has come to an end and future revenue growth will need to be unlocked in areas such as internet of things.
Average subscriber penetration rate in developed markets stood at 84 per cent at the end of 2016 while the average subscriber penetration rate in developing markets stood at 62 per cent at the end of 2016.
In 2016, the global mobile penetration rate stood at 65 per cent while in 2020, it is expected to touch 73 per cent.
“Smartphones and high-speed connectivity is enabling innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence and driving the digital transformation,” he said, citing trillion-dollar investment in global networks since 2010.
According to the report, there were 7.5 billion SIM connections or 100 per cent penetration rate globally, while in 2020, the penetration rate is expected to climb to 112 per cent or 8.8 billion SIM connections.
Growth story
Granryd said that increased smartphone ownership and mandatory SIM registration in developing markets continue to drive a decline the global SIM ratio. It was 1.50 in 2012 while it was 1.44 in 2016. It is expected to be 1.43 in 2020.
The report said that mobile is still a growth story. Mobile revenues in developing countries will increase from $652 billion (Dh2.3 trillion) in 2016 to $687 billion in 2020 while in developed countries; the mobile revenues will increase from $400 billion to $451 billion in 2020.
Granryd said that the telecoms sector accounted for a 4.4 per cent share of global GDP worth $3.3 trillion dollars last year, rising to a 4.9 per cent share by 2020, for an economic value equivalent to $4.2 trillion.
The report said the mobile ecosystem last year employed 28.5 million people directly or indirectly, a figure it said would rise to 30.9 million by 2020. Operators are forecast to invest a further $700 billion by 2020 when 5G connectivity is set to bring ever faster data connection.
