Mobile network operators to earn $576b in six years

Mobile network operators including Nigeria’s four major GSM players, MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat are among global telecommunications service providers expected to earn about $576 billion as revenues  by 2020.

These revenues are expected to come from a broader ecosystem, including areas of applications, content and advertising, which is going to be a 16 per cent rise in their revenues.

The GSM Association, which disclosed this in a report titled: The Mobile Economy 2014, noted that the transformative effect of mobile has been made possible by significant capital investment by the mobile operators over recent years, totaling over $1 trillion in the last six years.

It informed that the mobile sector contributed $336 billion to public funding as at 2013, excluding regulatory and spectrum fees and it is projected to hit $465 billion in another six years from now.

While the mobile sector hoped to have created about 15.4 million jobs by 2020, the report said so far the industry has created 10.5 million jobs across the globe.

Indeed, in Nigeria, MNOs last year disclosed that they created 20,000 jobs directly and 1.1 million indirectly. They also claimed to have contributed in form of taxes to government coffers within the last 10 years over N160 billion.  

Other global operators to benefit from these earnings include AT&T; Orange; Vodacom; China Mobile; America Movil; Telenor; Vimplecom; China Telecom; Reliance; Ooredo; Megafona; Maxis; T-mobile; Econet; Safaricom among others.

Already, the International telecommunications Union (ITU) has projected that with the proliferation of tablets and smartphones, over 50 per cent of the global population will have Internet access within three years’ time, stressing that both technology gadgets are now the fastest growing technology in human history.    

Besides, the GSMA, which claimed that the report covered every operator group, network and MVNO in every country worldwide – from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, said the investment has been focused on both improving network coverage and to facilitate the growth in mobile broadband connections.

According to it, total investments by the operators are expected to increase going forward in order to accommodate the strong forecast growth in global data traffic, totaling $1.7 trillion out to 2020.

“The industry is already competitive and significant price reductions over recent years have helped to drive strong subscriber growth across the developing world. However, the industry faces a number of challenges if it is to fulfill its growth potential, and regulators and policymakers must be careful not to hinder this with short-term polices that maximise near-term tax revenues over the medium-term potential for growth and development”, it stated.