The GSMA Mobile Economy series provides the latest insights on the state of the mobile industry worldwide. Produced by our renowned in-house research team, GSMA Intelligence, these reports contain a range of technology, socio-economic and financial datasets, including forecasts out to 2025. The global version of the report is published annually at MWC Barcelona, while regional editions are published throughout the year.
Mobile Economy Report Summary:
- Global 5G Connections – Update: Now live in 24 markets around the world, 5G will account for 20% of global connections by 2025, with take-up particularly strong across Asia, North America and Europe. Additionally, operators will invest $1.1 trillion in their networks globally over the next five years.
- Jobs in the Mobile Economy: 5G technologies are expected to contribute $2.2 trillion to the global economy between 2024 and 2034. Key sectors such as manufacturing/utilities and professional/financial services will benefit the most– and 16 million unique jobs are directly supported by the mobile ecosystem already.
- Enterprise First: Despite the rise in connected devices for consumers, enterprise IoT connections will overtake consumer ones by 2024, and will then almost triple between 2019 and 2025 to reach 13.3 billion. Additionally, GSMA predicts that, by 2025, 5G will become the first generation in the history of mobile to have a bigger impact on enterprise than consumers.
- For Consumers, Speed is King: As consumer awareness of 5G continues to climb, 72% of respondents (already aware of 5G) noted improved mobile data speeds as the No. 1 benefit. This proves how carriers need to work on highlighting 5G’s other various benefits, from improved mobile service coverage to improved fixed home broadband.
- Barriers to 5G: As part of GSMA Intelligence’s Network Transformation Survey, it was identified that spectrum is the top concern for operators in the 5G era, as barriers relating to cost and technology maturity are predicted to resolve themselves over time as use cases become clearer.
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Bridging the Rural Digital Divide – Update: GSMA found that the mobile broadband coverage gap halved between 2015 and 2019, falling from 18% to 9% of the global population and equating to almost 1 billion additional people covered.
- But there are ways to go: Despite this progress, GSMA also found that many factors separate from infrastructure are holding back the adoption of mobile internet – including affordability, consumer readiness, and availability of locally relevant content and services by mobile broadband networks during this period.