Global Mobile Service Revenue Drops for 3rs Straight Year

Global mobile service revenue fell two percent in 2014 year over year, to $781 billion, according to the IHS Infonetics. That marks the third straight year of global revenue decline.

“Hobbled by mobile saturation and continuous weak consumer spending across the board, the mobile services market in EMEA dropped 14 percent in 2014 from the prior year,” said  Stéphane Téral, IHS research director for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics.

As always, aggregate statistics hide regional divergences. Mobile services revenue grew seven percent between 2013 and 2014 in the Caribbean and Latin America region.

Revenue was flat in North America and Asia Pacific (China slowed).

Overall, mobile broadband revenue rose nearly 33 percent year over year in 2014, but voice and messaging declined at double digit rates.

For the second year in a row, voice revenue and usage decreased in 2014

IHS forecasts global mobile broadband revenue to grow at an 11.7 percent compound annual growth rate from 2014 to 2019.