The current market conditions in emerging markets for the telecom industry are somewhat unpredictable and influenced by the global macroeconomic developments.

At a recent next gen BSS conference that I attended, two of the best presentations were not from operators or BSS vendors but content providers.

In the wake of a volatile 2014, the repercussions in Russia and the CIS are continuing to be felt as we enter the New Year.

As 2015 begins to kick into high gear I thought I would share a few trends we see forming here at GENBAND in the expanding universe of Real Time Communications software and solutions.

Customers in emerging and developing markets will continue to benefit from competitive alternatives in the coming year and will gradually see lower prices and better service.

India’s mobile footprint has increased dramatically over the past decade, primarily taking place in urban centers with feature phones.

For a long time, mobile network operators (MNOs) have looked longingly at untapped global markets, wishing there were a business case to justify an expansion of their networks to the nearly two billion potential customers worldwide who are either not covered by any mobile network or currently have unsatisfactory coverage.

All around the world, the mobile landscape is changing. Mobile subscriptions are expected to reach nearly 7 billion by the end of 2014, whilst mobile broadband subscribers will reach 2.3 billion.

2015 is a year in which we’ll see micro-segmentation thrust into action in emerging markets, enabling the delivery of personalized experiences to address the wide diversity within and between markets.

From our perspective, through many recent engagements with Service Providers and Industry events it is clear that both Africa and Asia are really accelerating when it comes to the level of focus on digital-based services that complement their core telco offerings.

With growing customer demands and an increasing need to remain competitive and profitable, major operators and CSPs will channel growth in the development of new technologies, partnerships and entry into new sectors.

Stop thinking about smartphone market as the battle between Apple and Samsung. It was never true for emerging markets.

What will happen in 2015? Growth will, of course, continue. There is still huge pent-up demand for telecoms services in the burgeoning middle classes and aspirational consumers in the emerging markets.

It is a cliché that necessity is the mother of invention.

2015 will be a year that brings various evolutions to developing and emerging markets.

The majority of service providers in Africa continue to grow slowly, mostly due to population growth, but ARPUs remain stubbornly low and it’ll be tough to introduce expensive new services in 2015.

As enterprises around the world begin to plan for the year to come, Verizon’s annual view on enterprise-technology trends offers a timely reminder of what’s shaping the technology market from the business perspective.

The Mexican regulator IFT has confirmed that it will hold auctions this year for 4G-capable radio frequencies.

The potential of mobile and ICT to support behavior change, supply chain, health financing, health worker enablement and other critical services has been well documented but we have yet to see significant scale and integration into the health system.

A new mobile app connecting Ebola survivors has launched in Guinea.

2015 is a year in which we’ll likely see a great deal of attention paid in emerging markets to how data revenues will need to quickly bridge the gap that stems from rapidly declining SMS and voice revenues.

Happy New Year from Developing Telecoms!