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Companies belonging to the telecommunications sector will be affected directly and indirectly by a number of disruptive opportunities and challenges that will jeopardize their corporate longevity over the coming decades. While described in detail within Quantumrun’s special reports, these disruptive trends can be summarized along the following broad points:
- First off, as Africa, Asia, and South America continue to develop over the next two decades, their populations will increasingly demand greater first world living amenities, this includes modern telecommunications infrastructure. Luckily, since many of these regions have been chronically underdeveloped, they have the opportunity to leapfrog into a mobile-first telecommunications network instead of a landline-first system. In either case, such infrastructure investment will keep telecom sector building contracts going strong into the foreseeable future.
- Similarly, internet penetration will grow from 50 percent in 2015 to over 80 percent by the late-2020s, allowing regions across Africa, South America, the Middle East and parts of Asia to experience their first Internet revolution. These regions will represent the biggest growth opportunities for telecom companies over the next two decades.
- Meanwhile, in the developed world, increasingly data-hungry populations will begin demanding ever greater broadband internet speeds, spurring investment into 5G internet networks. The introduction of 5G (by the mid-2020s) will enable a range of new technologies to finally achieve mass commercialization, from augmented reality to autonomous vehicles to smart cities. And as these technologies experience greater adoption, they will likewise spur further investment into building out nationwide 5G networks.
- By the late 2020s, as the cost of rocket launches becomes more economical (in part thanks to new entrants like SpaceX and Blue Origin), the space industry will expand dramatically. This will bring down the cost of launching telecom (internet beaming) satellites into orbit, thereby increasing the competition terrestrial telecom companies face. Similarly, broadband services delivered by drone (Facebook) and balloon (Google) based systems will add an additional level of competition, especially in underdeveloped regions.
These broad trends will have far-reaching effects on the telecommunications sector that will influence the sector’s long-term development.
To stay informed about these and other trends, as well as the emerging opportunities and threats facing the telecommunications sector, consider investing in Quantumrun Foresight sector forecast reports. Contact us today to learn more.
