Research firm Ovum predicts mobile broadband will be a shining light in a world of flat revenues through 2016, tipping the sector as telco’s best chance of achieving above average growth.
The firm predicts mobile broadband revenues will grow 19.2% annually and generate $122.9 billion (€94 billion) in incremental income over the three year period. The sector is the largest of five Ovum expects to generate double-digit growth between 2013 and 2016 – public cloud, enterprise Ethernet, IPTV, and managed and hosted IP voice complete the firm’s list.
However, beyond those sectors will be hard to come by over the next three years. Ovum predicts minimal growth in telco revenues during that period, and also warns infrastructure vendors and components suppliers to brace for tough times ahead.
“The recovery from the 2009 recession has been weak, and the ongoing global fiscal crisis continues to present a risk to the telecom industry,” says John Lively, chief forecaster at Ovum.
Lively believes fixed and mobile operators must compete with providers of over the top (OTT) services, and focus more on their consumer marketing to achieve growth.
Infrastructure vendors can achieve above average sales growth by positioning themselves “in one or more high-potential product segments, such as converged packet optical, ROADMs, 40G/100G networking gear, carrier Wi-Fi, and network related services,” Lively says.
Getting in on the 40G/100G sector will also be key for component makers to fend off continued market volatility, Lively notes, adding that manufacturers can also form “close relationships with infrastructure vendors and jointly understanding the end customers’ needs.”