Europe’s wireless market has seen customer totals decline in recent years as operators place less emphasis on winning new users and more on earning from their existing subscribers while wiping inactive accounts.
There were around 1.045 billion cellular subscribers across Western and Eastern Europe at the end of 2017, down from 1.048 billion a year earlier.
At it’s peak in 2015 there were 1.052 billion subscribers.
The fixed broadband market in Africa has witnessed continued growth in recent years, despite a household penetration rate that remains in single digits.
Only 7 percent of African households subscribed to high speed internet services at the end of 2017. (Compare that to the Middle East’s 38 percent, which is next in line.)
The fixed broadband market in Latin America and the Caribbean has undergone steady subscriber take-up in recent years, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.9 percent between the end of 2004 and end-2017.
The region was home to 77.4 million fixed high speed internet customers at the end of 2017, up from 72.4 million a year earlier.
Recent developments in the wireless market in North America have centered on cellular operators’ preparations for future 5G technology. As we discussed in a blog post last May, the main providers in the U.S. have been busying themselves with trials, while preparations are also being made over the border in Canada.
Things are now moving closer to the first pre-commercial launches; we’ll have a look at these below as part of a wider round-up of the region’s wireless sector.
The Middle East is a mixed bag when it comes to fixed broadband penetration.
Some countries have more than four out of five households subscribing to a high speed fixed or fixed-wireless service. But others lag far behind, with customers relying on cellular networks for their broadband access.
The Asia-Pacific region accounts for more than half of the world’s 7.7 billion wireless subscribers, but it remains a region of extremes. It’s home to some of the most advanced mobile markets as well as some of the least developed. While one country boasts the largest 4G LTE market on the planet, others have yet to offer licenses for LTE services.
Africa’s wireless story is one of extremes, opportunity, and playing catch up with surrounding regions.
Just look closer at our GlobalComms Database to get the full story. From growth in subscribers to evolving penetration rates, we see individual countries jump to the front of the pack in these measurements, while the African wireless market as a whole strains to compete with its neighbors.
As tensions on the Korean peninsula continue to mount, there is an increasing focus on the North Korean regime under Kim Jong-un.
The country has strict controls on communications, which have been criticized by human rights bodies such as Amnesty International.
The Iraqi region of Kurdistan recently voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence.
While the political machinations will continue for some time—with Iraq, Iran, and Turkey all having spoken out against the prospect of an independent Kurdish state—the vote has prompted us to take a closer look at the region’s telecoms markets.
