Telecoms Market Characteristics
The telecoms market consists of sales of telecoms goods and services by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that apply communication hardware equipment for the transmission of voice, data, text and video. This market includes segments such as wired telecommunications carriers, wireless telecommunications carriers and communications hardware manufacturers. The telecoms market also includes manufacturers’ sales of goods such as GPS equipment, cellular telephones and switching equipment.
Telecoms Market Size
The telecoms market size is expected to reach $3450 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of around 6% . The growth in the telecoms market is attributed to increasing development of smart cities and emerging market growth. One of the key drivers of the market includes-Economic growth, the global economy is expected to go through a continued period of steady growth during 2018-2022. The US economy has shown strong growth in 2018, and this is likely to continue during the forecast period. The European market is expected to see strong growth in the period between 2018 and 2022. Emerging markets are expected to continue to see generally higher levels of growth than the developed markets during this period. This continued economic growth will be a driver for the telecoms market as greater economic activity will drive the use of telecoms services.
However, the market for telecom is expected to face certain restraints from several factors such as security issues and stringent regulatory environment. One of the key restraints of the market include-National security – the telecoms industry involved in the provision of national networks across the world is increasingly targeted by hackers, exposing various security issues. The hackers’ main aim is to steal valuable information and use it in their own favor. Despite various measures taken by many national governments imposing stricter regulatory norms for foreign hardware manufacturers, issues concerning national security continue to rise. The extreme cases of surveillance include banning the Huawei Company by the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK governments to participate in the provision of 5G network hardware due to security concerns, which stemmed from the claim that Chinese government`s use of Huawei`s products to spy on people around the worldly. These security issues leading to the ban of foreign manufacturers are expected to hinder the growth of a major segment within the telecoms market, the communications hardware market in the forecast period.
Competitive Landscape of the Telecoms Market
The telecoms market is relatively fragmented with small numbers of large entities which command significant market shares and large numbers of small entities with minor shares. Major players in the global telecoms market include Apple, AT&T, Verizon communications, China Mobile and Samsung. Apple Inc. was the largest competitor in the telecoms market in 2018, with about 6% share of the market. Its products include phones, tablets, music players, laptops, desktops and TVs. Its consumer and professional software applications include the IOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, and accessories, service and support offerings. The company also has iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, and Mac App Store through which it sells its digital content and applications. The company was formed in 1976 and is headquartered in California, the USA.
Telecoms Market Segmentation
The global telecoms market is further segmented based on type of product and geography.
By Type Of Product- The telecoms market manufacturing market is segmented into wireless telecommunication carriers, wired telecommunication carriers, communications hardware and satellite and telecommunication resellers. Wired telecommunication carriers accounted for the largest share of the telecoms market in 2018 at 45.2%. The satellite & telecommunication resellers market is expected to be the fastest-growing segment going forward at a CAGR of 8.1%.
By Geography - The global telecoms market is segmented into North America, South America, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Middle East and Africa. Among these regions, the Asia Pacific telecoms market accounts for the largest share in the global telecom industry, accounting for almost 36% of the global market in 2018. It was followed by North America, Western Europe and then the other regions. Going forward, Africa and the Middle East will be the fastest growing regions for this market, where growth will be at a CAGR of almost 9% and 8% respectively. This is followed by Asia Pacific and South America where the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8% and 6% respectively.
Telecoms Market Trends
Internet TV and focus on wireless mobile technologies are the major trends witnessed in the global telecoms market.
Potential Opportunities In The Telecoms Market
With adoption of advanced technologies and growing government initiatives, the scope and potential of the global telecoms market is expected to increase in the forecast period.
The top opportunities in the global telecoms market will arise in the wired telecommunications carriers segment which will gain $338.8 billion of global annual sales by 2022. The telecoms market size will gain the most in China at $230.5 billion. Telecoms market-trend-based strategies include offering affordable and fast internet using Wi-Fi, 4G and 5G wireless communications technologies, and offering video-on-demand services along with fixed line services. Player-adopted strategies in the telecoms industry include increasing investments in wireless communication technologies and expanding the offerings into emerging countries.