Video Becomes Part of Core Telecom

The global telecom and media market will generate $1.58 trillion in revenues in 2021 from 11.96 billion connections, according to Ovum. Video entertainment largely accounts for the growth, as that product becomes a mobile and fixed service provider core offering.

“Core” telecom revenues have been in the range of $1 trillion annually, in recent years. To sustain those revenues, video entertainment increasingly is seen as a new “core” offering.

source: FCC

Using that example, much of the future telecom service provider revenue growth will come from other applications. Many expect that will happen as new internet of things apps develop, and as service providers are able to create new roles for themselves in those areas.

The United States  will be the world’s largest telecom/media market by revenues, with $402 billion in 2021 generated from 805 million connections.

U.S. revenues will be 25 percent of the global total in 2021, compared to US connections, which will be seven percent of the global total.

China will be the biggest market in 2021, as measured by accounts. China will have 2.4 billion connections, representing 20 percent of the global total, and the second-largest market in terms of revenues, with revenues of $220 billion in 2021.

But growth largely will come from emerging markets. The world’s top ten markets ranked by revenue growth from 2016 to 2021 will be concentrated in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions. The markets in order of revenue CAGR are Myanmar, India, Kenya, Indonesia, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Iran, Uganda, and Pakistan.

Mobile will be a big contributor everywhere, but content will be a bigger revenue source in some markets.

In 2021, the mobile market will generate 87 percent of total telecom/media revenues in Africa and 70 percent in the Middle East, compared to 50 percent in North America and 49 percent in Western Europe.

Still, mobile  will dominate the market overall, with revenues of $933 billion and nine billion connections in 2021. Fixed broadband will generate $288 billion in revenues in 2021, ahead of entertainment video at $239 billion and fixed voice at $122 billion.