Trends & Forecasts

In Part 2 of Developing Telecoms’ Global Forecast 2026, we share insight from vendors, including ZTE and Ericsson MFS, as well as the network & enterprise divisions of major operator groups, including Airtel Business and Liberty Networks.

The telecoms sector is always looking to the future – but as 2025 draws to a close, thought leaders across the industry are of course considering what 2026 will have in store. For our Global Forecast 2026, Developing Telecoms reached out to luminaries from service providers, manufacturers, AI specialists and operator groups to hear their thoughts. Over the next two weeks, we’ll share their responses.

Telefonica has been active in Latin America for decades – but in late 2019, it announced plans to withdraw from many of the markets in this region, divesting or spinning off its operations in a process that is ongoing. From a business standpoint, this made sense – aside from its Brazilian unit, Telefonica’s Latin American operations accounted for just a fifth of its operating profits.

It’s that time of year again – we’re off to Barcelona next week for Mobile World Congress 2025. As we did last year, our editorial team – James, Manny, Julian and Vaughan - got together to discuss the key talking points and technology trends that we expect to emerge this year.

As we move into 2025, market analysts are advising telcos to channel their investments in Gen AI more towards revenue-generating opportunities rather than back-office productivity, and to prioritise high-value enterprise customers even over consumers. However, the difficult economic climate means they will still struggle to deliver returns in the near term.

As had been anticipated, 2024 proved to be another challenging year for the communications industry. Declining growth in fixed and mobile broadband network investments coupled with the ongoing struggle to monetise new 5G services, and accompanied by the global economic downturn, continued to impact business performance for many telcos, equipment vendors and the wider industry.

With MWC24 now over, it’s time to look at the key trends that emerged from the show – and check whether they aligned with our predictions.

LIVE AT MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2024: The 5G and Beyond keynote session on day one was less 5G and more cloud and artifical intelligence (AI), which was perhaps predictable, though equally predictable was that operators Ethio Telecom and Veon would have slightly different perspectives on the topic from those representing more developed markets like Telstra, Liberty Global and Deutsche Telekom.

Mobile World Congress 2024 takes place next week, and Developing Telecoms will be at the show in Barcelona to report on the major trends that will shape the sector in emerging markets across the next year.

Interest in artificial intelligence (AI) as a potential game-changer for the telecoms industry will continue to build through 2024, and in turn drive experimentation and innovation across many areas of telcos’ businesses and those of their customers.

As year-end approaches, analyst and consultancy firms, industry players and assorted commentators are once again posting their predictions for telecoms in 2024. However diverse their research interests or business focus, almost all of these forecasts share a common theme this time around - namely the expected impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the industry as a whole in the year ahead.

New statistics from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) suggest that while internet connectivity and usage is on the rise, it’s barely making a dent in the digital divide as low-income countries continue to be left behind.

Africa 2.0 – Inside a Continent’s Communications Revolution presents a 35-year history of the impact of mobile and internet on Sub-Saharan Africa.

Shifting trends in semiconductors will see 14nm microchips achieve full-scale production in China during 2022.

China is developing high-end microchip production at an unprecedented rate and mass production of domestic 14nm chips will be realized next year, according to Dr. Yungang Bao, of the Chinese Institute of Computing Technology (ICT).

Originally focused primarily on the carrier Ethernet space, MEF has worked for years on developing standards and certifications. Across the past few years, its remit has expanded greatly across other technologies, making its certification work of ever-greater importance to operators in emerging markets.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the pre-existing global shortage of semiconductor chips, which power everything from smartphones to vehicles. Geopolitical issues between the US and China have impeded international trade and driven the need for self-sufficiency, which China is pursuing.

Few industries have been left unaffected by the global chip shortage, which has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic to escalate into a full-scale crisis. The shortage of chipsets has underlined every sector’s dependence on connected technology, and Chinese manufacturers are looking to boost production in order to make up for the recent shortfall.

In this article, Clare McCarthy of Nokia examines how 5G connectivity and immersive learning tools such as AR and VR will be foundational to the future of education after the pandemic.

Customers in developing countries are paying up to four times as much for data services when income differences are factored in, according to a new policy brief from the ITU and the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI).

With the US embargo restricting access to both chips and the equipment to manufacture them how is China responding? According to Li Ke of the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA), the race is on to develop home grown solutions.

As the US ratchets up the pressure globally to ban Chinese vendors in 5G how will this affect operators?

A new report from the GSMA cautions that while operators look to the future of 4G and 5G, they must not disregard their legacy 2G and 3G networks.

A new report from Fitch Solutions tips Vietnam for a swift transition to 5G given the government’s support for the technology and the country’s device manufacturing sector.