Independent telecoms analyst Ovum says 2009 was the worst for telecoms in a decade, with telecoms service provider revenues only growing by 2.2% year-on-year due to the global economic downturn. However, 2010 is expected to be much better.
Ovum's Global Telecoms Analyzer says total revenue from service providers will grow by 6% in 2010 and will see a compound annual growth rate of 5% by 2014.
The report says fixed line services will continue to decline, with the number of fixed lines worldwide falling from one billion in 2010 to 871 million by 2014. Revenue from fixed-line services will also fall, from around $350 billion (£224 billion) this year to $283 billion by 2014. Mobile phone connections are heading in the opposite direction, increasing from 5.3 billion in 2010 to 7.1 billion in 2014, with much of the growth driven by developing markets in Asia and Africa. Revenue from mobile phone services is expected to increase by nearly $100 billion in the three years to 2012.
John Lively, chief forecaster at Ovum, said "Globally, mobile is keeping telecoms buzzing. In 2010, China and India alone will add 329 million new mobile phone connections, equivalent to more than the combined total population of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK. While fixed voice lines and revenues will continue declining due to mobile substitution, fixed revenues overall will benefit from the growth in broadband services (internet access, video, and VoIP), enabled by continued deployment of fibre-to-the-premises networks."