Mobile Sector, the Fastest Growing Market in Telecoms

The mobile segment of the telecommunications market is seen as the fastest sector in the area, as it showed growth during the past years, and is expected to rise even more in the future. According to a recent report from IDC, the area is now an $850 billion global market, accounting for around 57 percent of the worldwide telecoms market, and is expected to increase to up to 62 percent of the market during the ongoing year.

Moreover, the IDC report also shows that the market is driven upwards by the impressive growth in subscribers, and that more than 1.3 billion new subscribers are expected to be added into the mix by 2013. In addition, there are also a series of exciting trends and developments that need be noted, such as the “expanding demographic of smart devices,” the growth of mobile broadband offerings, or the availability of a wider range of mobile applications.

IDC says that there are four major trends which are expected to shape the mobile industry, including:
- Price compression, and the slowdown of revenue growth for mobile voice, showing the importance of mobile data, mobile broadband, and of applications
- Smartphones have emerged as a key driver of the global mobile market, with 15% of all devices shipped. Another key driver will be the emergence of connected devices, such as embedded laptops and a plethora of industrial/machine to machine (M2M) devices.
- 2010 will bring substantial transformation in the mobile operating system (OS) landscape.
- In the infrastructure segment, mobile broadband will continue to be the focus for 2010. WiMAX will be a key driver in many emerging markets, while LTE will begin to take the limelight towards the end of the year and into 2011.

“The mobile sector is in transition from its prior focus on subscriber growth. The expanding demographics of smartphones and new operating systems, the arrival of mobile broadband, and the explosive growth of applications and content are combining to reshape the landscape of mobile telecommunications,” said Courtney Munroe, group vice president of Worldwide Telecommunications at IDC.

The "Worldwide Mobile Trends: Steady Subscriber Growth, the Proliferation of Applications, and the Mobile Internet" study from IDC offers an overview of global mobile trends in the mobile market, as it is focused on services, infrastructure, operating systems, and devices. Those who would like to learn additional details on the matter will find the report available on the research firm's website.