By 2023, mobile’s contribution in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will reach just over $220 billion as countries increasingly benefit from the improvements in productivity and efficiency brought about by the increased take-up of mobile services. In 2018, mobile technologies and services generated 4.5% of GDP – a contribution that amounted to…

Following commercial launches by the four largest US mobile operators, 5G is now a reality. As coverage expands across the US, and with Canada expecting to deploy 5G in 2020, 5G adoption is expected to rapidly gather pace in North America. By the end of 2022, 24% of connections on the continent will be on…

The CIS is now seeing an accelerating shift to mobile broadband. 4G will overtake 2G as a proportion of connections in 2019 and will become the region’s leading mobile technology in 2021. Belarus and Russia are expected to launch 5G by the end of 2020; networks in the region’s other 10 markets will be live…

Sub-Saharan Africa will remain the fastest growing region, with a CAGR of 4.6% and an additional 167 million subscribers over the period to 2025. This will take the total subscriber base to just over 600 million, representing around half the population. During 2019, 3G will overtake 2G to become the leading mobile technology in the…

Across Asia Pacific countries are at very different stages of digital development. Consequently, the policy frameworks for a digital society vary as national governments address their own unique challenges. For some, 2019 will see 5G become a reality. Many developed markets, such as South Korea, Japan and Australia, are keen to be global leaders in…

By the end of 2018, there were 185 million unique mobile subscribers in West Africa, an increase of nearly 10 million over the previous year. Future growth will largely be driven by young consumers owning a mobile phone for the first time; more than 40% of the sub-region’s population are under 18 years old. The…

Mobile technology can play a pivotal role in the digital transformation of the Pacific Islands, enabling access to life-enhancing services in areas such as health and education, while proving a catalyst for innovation and economic growth, with the promise of new jobs and increased tax revenues. Faster network speeds and more advanced devices are key to…

China is a huge mobile market, nearly four times the size of North America, with 1.2 billion unique subscribers at the end of 2018. Over 97% of these come from mainland China, with the remainder spread across three other markets – Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. With 4G entrenched as the dominant mobile technology, the prospects…

With 690 million registered accounts worldwide, mobile money has evolved into the leading payment platform for the digital economy in many emerging markets. In our 2017 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, we found that mobile money services without enabling regulation have activity rates 30 per cent lower on average than those with an…

By 2025, there will be 304M smartphones in West Africa. West Africa is home to more than 175 million unique mobile subscribers and is one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile regions.