The mobile industry’s contribution to European GDP will increase from EUR500 billion in 2014 to EUR600 billion by 2020, as markets across the region benefit from the improvements in productivity and efficiency brought about by the adoption of new mobile technologies, including machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, according to a new study by GSMA.
“Europe’s mobile operators have invested heavily in 4G over the past few years despite challenging macroeconomic and regulatory conditions, and we expect investments in 4G deployments, capacity and spectrum to be sustained for the remainder of the decade,” said Alex Sinclair, Acting Director General and Chief Technology Officer at the GSMA. “Mobile subscribers in Europe are now benefiting from download speeds that far exceed the global average and are taking advantage of a range of innovative new services made possible by next-generation networks and devices.”
Some highlights:
- 4G will account for 60 per cent of the continent’s mobile connections1 by 2020, according to the report, up from 20 per cent today.
- 4G network coverage passed 80 per cent of the European population in early 2015 and is forecast to exceed 95 per cent by the end of the decade.
- Smartphones are forecast to account for 76 per cent of Europe’s mobile connections by 2020, up from 60 per cent this year.
- Average monthly data usage for Western Europe is set to grow from less than 1GB per month in 2014 to nearly 6GB in 2019, a 45 per cent compound annual growth rate, according to Cisco.
- The EUR500 billion generated by the mobile industry in Europe last year was equivalent to 3.2 per cent of the region’s GDP.
- The mobile industry directly and indirectly supported 3.8 million jobs and contributed approximately EUR84 billion to public funding in the form of various types of taxation.
