Spending on telecom services and pay TV services in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) rose 2.4 percent in 2022 to $449 billion, according to IDC.
EMEA spending on telecom and pay TV services will grow by 2.7 percent to $461 billion in 2023 thanks to the increase in tariffs of telecommunication services fueled by inflation.
In 2022, spending on telecom services in Europe increased by 1.1 percent — mainly due to the result of two factors: 1) the war in Ukraine and related economic sanctions imposed on Russia, the biggest market of the CEE subregion; and 2) significant slowdown of the major Western Europe (WE) economies due to the drastic growth of interest rates.
Telecom services spending in the MEA sub-region posted an increase of 5 percent, fueled by the lower saturation of markets in the less-developed countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Telcos in Europe are expected to continue investing into advanced telecommunications technologies, despite current and forecast inflation. Telecom service providers hope that the migration to all-IP and new-generation access (NGA) broadband will help offset the decline in revenue from fixed and mobile voice services. They also expect 5G to unlock new opportunities by allowing massive machine-type and ultra-reliable low-latency communications.
“Telecom operators are transforming — from providers of traditional commodity-style services to modern full-stack technology suppliers,” says Kresimir Alic, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Telecom Services. “By doing so, they hope to become leaders of the digital revolution and acquire a central position in the new digitalized world.”
