Spending worldwide on pay-TV and telecommunications services is expected to rise to almost $1.7 trillion this year, an increase of 1.7% compared to last year, according to a pay-TV and telecom global spend forecast from IDC. The growth is not over: The firm says that spending will grow 2% next year compared to this year and surpass the $1.7 trillion mark.
Pay-TV and Telecom Global Spend
Mobile represents slightly more than half the market (52%). Its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will be 2% from this year through 2021, IDC said. The drivers will be mobile data usage and M2M applications. This will offset declines in mobile voice and messaging services. Fixed data, 21% of the total market this year, will have a CAGR of 4% as higher bandwidths are sought.
The pay-TV segment – which includes cable, satellite platforms and IP and digital television services, is destined to remain flat between 2016 and 2021, but will continue to be an important component of multi-play services, researchers said. Spending on multi-play services will increase by 9% this year and 7% in 2018, they said. But fixed voice services will have a CAGR of -6% and represent less than 10% of the total market by 2021. IP voice growth is not offsetting declines in TDM voice, researchers said.
At $635 billion, The Americas will constitute the largest segment of the pay-TV and telecom services market this year. The fast growing year-over-year markets are in Asia Pacific, followed by EMEA, the press release said.
“The steady growth in the worldwide telecom market is driven by the need for IP services and higher bandwidth services, which are more than offsetting declining legacy telecom services,” said Courtney Munroe, group vice president, Worldwide Telecommunications Research at IDC, .
