The telecommunications (telecom) industry worldwide is searching for development opportunities as technology advances, communication needs grow, and demand extends the present barriers. However, the telecom sector is witnessing new challenges with other well-rooted industries, such as utilities. However, this field represents the foundation on which individuals and businesses rely to conduct daily tasks. Driven mostly by video traffic, estimations indicate that data consumption worldwide will almost triple, reaching 9.7 million petabytes (PB) by 2027 from 3.4 million PB last year. These estimations are provided by a recent study conducted by PwC, the second-most prominent professional services network globally.
As you can tell by now, 2023 has not been an inactive year for the telecommunications industry, with technologies such as the eSIM cards and the 5G that saw more and more adopters embracing it, marking it. Similarly, 2024 is expected to see evolution continue.
In order to ensure the quality and reliability of these services, the telecom industry has to adhere to a set of guidelines known as the code of practice for telecommunication, and also other relevant industries. This practice outlines the standards that licensed telecommunication companies must adhere to, thereby ensuring a level of service that satisfies both individual consumers and businesses.
The following three technologies will likely see the most significant investments and efforts poured into development and penetration rates, further impacting how the telecom industry will behave from 2024.
Let’s learn more about them!
eSIM.
eSIM revolutionized the way people communicated when it was first introduced into the market in 2011 by Apple. It’s been 12 years since the concept of manually introducing replaceable SIM cards into mobile devices no longer finds its role in modern times.
When faced with the question “what is eSIM?”, the automatic response that may come to mind is that it’s a digitally activated card, given the term’s prefix. However, it’s rushed to think that this is what this widespread technology is all about and not look at the opportunities brought beyond the ease and intuitiveness enhanced in the implementation process.
At least eSIM USA is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 8.5% and touch $15,464.0 million by 2030 in this region. This expansion is fueled by the growing adoption of IoT-connected devices in consumer electronics and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.
At the moment, Europe and North America are leading in eSIM adoption. Still, the dynamics may change or see this technology gain surprisingly excellent traction among countries on other continents. For what’s worth, more and more individuals will learn the advantages of using it beyond the lack of need to contact service providers to activate the plan.
5G monetization.
5G is nothing new in the stage of telecommunications, but an idea that saw the light of day in 2018 in the USA to further gain traction the following year in EU countries lacking in terms of provided telecom services. The concept evolved throughout 2020, and despite the barriers posed by the pandemic, steps toward its development and introduction were successfully taken, and the 5G global wireless network started rolling out.
Today, it’s stated that they’re covering parts of more than 1,700 cities, with 5G Nationwide spanning 2K cities. Therefore, it’s anything that one is not familiar with but has to date been used at small costs, which telecom companies are looking to monetize better in the future.
2024 is expected to see more revenue gained by telecommunications companies offering these services, an achievement that’s essential for them to keep tech developments going. From 2021 to 2022, the 5G connections worldwide rose 76% and reached over 1 billion. At the moment, it’s thought that 5G subscriptions make up 10.7% of the number of mobile subscriptions universally. As the penetration rates rise and no less than the number of global subscriptions reached by 2026 is expected to hit 13.57 billion, according to CCS Insight research, the revenue obtained by service providers is also anticipated to rise in percentage. 5G companies must not be limited to offering the generic features and opportunities that this wireless network can offer but go beyond and improve it, providing more than just basic connectivity. It’s expected that telcos will hunt new revenue channels by providing innovative cloud-based services, taking us to the following telecom trend in 2024.
Cloud.
An exciting turning point occurred within the cloud-based realm, seeing organizations become more and more familiar with SaaS, cloud storage, and cloud-based communication. Businesses taking advantage of these opportunities only create new development streams to improve the efficiency of their communication and connectivity, decreasing costs and scaling operations.
Also encountered as telco cloud, this term is employed to relate to telecommunication companies’ infrastructure and cloud-based services. More services are involved in the sector, such as network function visualization, software-defined networking, and visualized network functions, all hosted on a cloud-built platform.
The main goal is to help telcos handle operations more cheaply and effectively, delivering new services to clients in a facilitated way. This increases accessibility for all and makes services more accessible, lowering the entry barrier for those with insufficient access to services and goods. Ultimately, companies are expected to increase their profits by saving money by reducing employees in data centers as well as on-site hardware.
The wrap-up.
The faith in telecommunications lies in exceptional connectivity, heightened speed, infrastructure development, and innovation. As technology evolves at the speed of light, so does the telecom sector and the possibilities enabled by it.
With the integration of 5G wireless networks and cloud-based services, as well as the expansion of eSIM adoption that makes physical cards a thing of the past, we’re heading to a more connected future. By navigating the possibilities existent at the moment, both the telecom realm and the average telco user will highly profit, seeing other industries ranging from healthcare to entertainment being facilitated.
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