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Global operator revenue will increase just one per cent to £314bn by 2022

Manny Pham
October 23, 2017

Analyst firm predicts collectively operators worldwide will see revenue increase from $411bn (£311bn) in 2017 to $415bn (£314bn) in 2022, a one per cent increase

Globally operators will see enterprise revenue increase by just $4 billion in 2022 from $411 (£311bn) billion predicted this year, as profits from voice and data services reach saturation in high volume markets.

This is according to a report from consulting firm Analsys Mason released October 23, which researched data of regulators, government bodies and over 100 operators in 22 countries across every region of the world.

However emerging markets will see a tow to three per cent rate in growth until voice and data services are more widespread.

North America will contribute most to the forecast growth with compound annual growth (CAGR) of 1.4 per cent, but revenue is falling year-on-year.

Western Europe enterprise revenues will be flat through to 2022. Africa and the Middle East are growing rapidly. A CAGR of 2.8 per cent is seen in sub-Saharan Africa.

Operators in Emerging Asia–Pacific benefit from both sizeable markets and sizeable revenue growth of 2.6 per cent per year between 2017 and 2022.

Growing enterprise ICT market

Revenue from Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity will increase sharply at over 10 per cent a year to fill some of the void left by voice and data revenues, accounting for seven per cent of operator enterprise revenue by 2022.

However, the biggest opportunity for operators is to fight for a share of the rapidly growing enterprise ICT market, which is estimated to be worth more than $230 billion (£174bn) by 2022.

The consulting firm stated potential in the ICT market due to fragmentation. Which can be taken advantage of with “bundled offerings of services for business customers”, such as security, data storage, and other cloud services.

By doing so and especially targeting firms with workforces up to 10, operators can shore up enterprise revenues. Networks are forecast to own at least 15 per cent of this market by 2022, larger shares can be taken with partnerships and acquisitions.

Hitting the wall

Analysys mason senior research analyst Catherine Hammond said: “Operators need to look at this as an opportunity to upsell new services. When you’re hitting the wall in terms of revenues, it’s about bundling, upselling and retaining customers by serving them with a bigger, better package of services.

“By providing cloud and business services to all sizes of enterprise, operators will be able to sustain their revenue and make themselves increasingly valuable to their customers.”

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