LONDON, March 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
International expansion has strengthened the operations of
many mobile operators
In 2017 the global mobile market has its sights firmly set on
the opportunities offered through mobile data as well as looking
for potential new revenues streams presented by the enterprise
sector, data mining, 5G and international expansion. Mobile
saturation has occurred in many of the developed markets and this
has forced some of the operators to look for new opportunities –
particularly those offered by expanding regionally or
internationally. This has occurred in most regions of the world –
and as a result some operators have become powerful and dominant
regional leaders.
In Latin America, for example,
the mobile market continues to be dominated by a small number of
operators which each have businesses in multiple countries. These
include Telefónica Group; Mexico's
América Móvil, trading as Telcel in its domestic market and as
Claro in the remaining 16 markets in the region; Telecom Italia,
AT&T Mexico and Millicom International. The dominance of these
operators is being gradually eroded however as a result of efforts
by a number of national regulators to facilitate the entry of MVNOs
and to encourage the participation of smaller players in spectrum
auctions.
In the more developed markets of Asia, growth is shifting away from a focus on
subscriber numbers and towards the expansion of new generation
platforms and increased data usage driven by value-added services
and increased ARPUs. There are those companies such as SingTel,
Vodafone, and Axiata (formerly Telekom Malaysia International) that
have built a substantial presence around the Asian region beyond
their own domestic market through their shareholdings in operators
in multiple other markets.
In the Pacific region; the Australian mobile market is dominated
by the three major mobile network operators Telstra, Optus, and
Vodafone (VHA), though there are numerous MVNOs which have a
significant market share. These have been able to offer LTE
services on a wholesale basis since early 2016, thus encouraging
growth in the LTE sector and cementing the role which MVNOs play in
the overall market.
Fiji is one of the telecoms
leaders in the South Pacific region, along with Papua New Guinea. Similar to many developing
nations, it is heavily reliant on mobile technologies rather than
fixed lines. The percentage of unique mobile subscribers in
Fiji sits at around 69%. Vodafone
Fiji Limited (VFL) and Digicel Fiji are the major mobile operators
and the only MVNO is Australian company, Inkk Mobile which operates
on VFL's network.
Three mobile service operators provide services in Papua New Guinea including Digicel, Bmobile
(Vodafone), and Citifon (Telikom PNG). However, in February 2017 it was announced that Dataco,
Bmobile and Telikom PNG would be merged together to form Kumul
Telikom. The three entities would be able to share resources and
infrastructure, making it potentially more cost effective and
competitive.
Although there are a large number of network operators across
the African continent, and also smaller niche MVNO players, there
are also a small number of pan-regional network operators. These
include Millicom, Orange Group, Vodacom and Bharti Airtel. Some
rationalisation of their operations continues as these players
adjust their strategies to fit in with market positions and
expectations.
There are a number of companies which have a large presence in
the Middle East. Zain, Ooredoo and
MTN are three examples of companies operating in multiple markets
and the international players of Orange and Vodafone also operate
in region.
As with Latin America and
Africa, the European region is
notable for having half a dozen pan-European operators with
interests in several key markets. These main players include
Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, Vodafone Group, Hutchison and
TeliaSonera. There has been much jostling among these operators as
they seek to strengthen their presence in particular markets. This
has in turn caused some disquiet among national regulators and
European competition authorities, which are keen to preserve a
quorum of key players (generally four) within a given market.
This BuddeComm publication provides a global overview of the
mobile market, supported by statistics as well as an overview of
the mobile markets for each major region of the world. Country case
studies for each region are also included, along with
identification of the major MNOs and MVNOs operating in each
region/country.
Key developments:
- Data mining will be the next driver of mobile revenue;
- Mobile operators need to rethink their business models;
- For new ideas, the industry should look towards the OTT
players;
- Operators in Latin America will
need to invest in LTE infrastructure and enhance their mobile data
and broadband offerings in a bid to secure revenue growth;
- Whilst there are still developing markets in Asia which are continuing to grow their mobile
subscriber base at high annual rates, total market growth in the
region has eased considerably in the last few years. This is not
surprising given that a significant number of markets have well and
truly saturated over the last year or so.
- Digicel, which has an expanding business across Samoa and Fiji in the Pacific, built a $500 million mobile network in PNG, becoming the
country's largest non-mining investor;
- Although ARPU remains relatively low for operators, considering
the level of disposable income in the region, Africa remains a key area for investment among
players;
- There are several dozen MVNOs in the US market, most of them
small and with a regional focus;
- While population increases across Europe mean that there is a steady influx of
new mobile subscribers, the market has a sufficiently high
penetration rate that growth is largely lateral, in that
subscribers are migrating from 2G to 3G and LTE networks. As a
result, the proportion of 2G subscribers is falling sharply, and
while there remains steady, if slow, growth in the 3G sector this
will also begin to fall from late 2017 or 2018 as subscribers shift
to LTE networks. This movement is being encouraged by network
operators which hope to capitalise on revenue derived from greater
take-up of mobile broadband and data services;
- Although MVNOs were late to arrive in the Middle East, several have launched services
and captured market share. FRiENDi and Virgin Mobile MEA are two
notable MVNOs which operate in several markets and there are a
number of domestic players as well.
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