Telecom
Global App Downloads Reached 218bn in 2020

After a year that saw more app downloads than ever before, demand for new apps and games is expected to accelerate in 2021.
This is according to the App Annie State of Mobile Report 2021, which states consumers downloaded 218 billion apps in 2020 across iOS and Google Play, up 7% year-on-year (YOY).
The report provides an analysis of the performance of the mobile and app marketplace, and insights into mobile’s expansive impact across industries and the global economy.
According to the App Annie research, mobile adoption boomed in 2020 − advancing the equivalent of two to three years in 12 months. Consumers migrated more of their physical needs onto mobile last year, partly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in mobile spend reaching new heights at $143 billion, indicating a 20% growth YOY.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, the normal time spent every day on cellphones expanded across the globe. Mobile took mindshare of 3.5 trillion hours on Android phones annually, shows the report. Mobile is the only channel with this reach and depth of engagement, it notes.
Other findings in the App Annie State of Mobile Report 2021 include:
E-commerce app boom: The report notes the pandemic led to a quick expansion in the e-commerce sector, making 2020 the biggest mobile shopping year yet. Global e-commerce spend between 1 November and 11 November 2020 reached $115 billion, with mobile driving the lion’s share. This trend is forecast to continue this upward spiral, as more people become more habitual with online shopping.
More time spent online: In the US, Gen Z, millennials and Gen X / baby boomers spent 16%, 18% and 30% more time YOY, respectively, in their most-used apps. In the UK, this was 18%, 17% and 27%, respectively. In the US and UK, Gen Z had the highest affinity for Snapchat and Twitch, respectively.
App popularity: TikTok was the most used app of 2020 and was more popular among Generation Z, as it heads towards 1.2 billion active users in 2021. This was followed by WhatsApp at 600 million installs, followed by Facebook with 540 million installs, Instagram with 503 million, and Messenger with 404 million. This was followed by video-conferencing apps Zoom and Google Meet.
More advertising spend: Given the increasing amount of time spent indoors and in homes, mobile’s growth means a shift in spending on advertising for corporate clients. Many countries saw the continuing demise of print, the shift to streaming entertainment, and the ongoing failure by news media to succeed with paywalls, leaving apps, games and social media platforms to pick up the marketing budget.
Mobile held up the global advertising industry in 2020 and saw placements grow 95% YOY, growing to $240 billion in mobile advertising spend and forecast to top $290 billion in 2021.
Surge in online food delivery services: Mobile orders of fast food and food delivery surged 105% YOY. For most markets analysed, food delivery services for the year ramped up in Q2 and Q3, reaching record highs in Q4 2020 as consumers stayed home amid COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing policies.
Commenting on these research findings, Karam Malhotra, partner and global VP at SHAREit, says. “The last 10 months saw the seismic and radical shift to work from home, thus translating into a dramatic surge in time spent online and on mobile, as users sought tools to facilitate business, content discovery and games to entertain and escape, and social media to connect with the outside world.
“This resulted in the meteoric rise in app downloads, time spent on mobile and consumer spending. A significant 25% jump from 2019 to top 3.5 trillion hours on Android, and key ‘at-home’ categories are expected to top 1.3 trillion hours on Android phones alone in 2021.”
Telecom
African Women Hit Hardest as Mobile Internet Gender Gap Persists

African women remain among the most digitally excluded globally, with smartphone affordability and digital literacy among the key barriers. New data from the 2025 GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report, launched recently, reveals a persistent global gender gap in mobile internet use across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
It further notes that literacy, digital skills, safety, and affordability of data also remain critical barriers. The report highlights that 885 million women across these regions still do not use mobile internet, with nearly 60% of them living in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
While mobile internet is the primary way women in LMICs access the internet, offering critical lifelines to health, education, and financial services, the pace of female adoption has stalled, leaving 235 million fewer women than men connected.
Claire Sibthorpe, head of digital inclusion at GSMA, highlighted that the gender gap had narrowed significantly between 2017 and 2020, but progress flatlined in recent years.
Although 2023 brought a slight improvement, restoring the gap to 15%, 2024 saw minimal change, with the gap settling at 14%.
The disparity is most severe in Sub-Saharan Africa, where women are 29% less likely than men to use mobile internet.
“It’s disheartening that progress in reducing the mobile internet gender gap has stalled. The digital divide is driven by deep-rooted socio-economic and cultural factors that disproportionately impact women,” said Sibthorpe.
GSMA projects that closing the gender gap by 2030 could add $1.3 trillion to GDP across LMICs and deliver $230 billion in revenue to the mobile industry.
The report, funded by the UK FCDO, Sida, and the Gates Foundation, stresses the urgent need for targeted investment and policy action to bridge the digital divide and ensure that no woman is left offline.
“The mobile internet gender gap is not going to close on its own. It is driven by deep-rooted social, economic, and cultural factors that disproportionately impact women,” said Sibthorpe.
Telecom
Telcos Worry over Possible 5 Percent Tax Return

Nigeria may bring back a 5per cent excise tax on telecom services, according to the 2024 Finance Bill passed by the Senate last week.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON
The tax would apply to data transmission and voice calls.
First introduced in 2020 under the Mohammadu Buhari administration to widen the tax base, the measure was suspended in 2023 by President Bola Tinubu due to rising inflation.
With the budget under pressure, the government is now considering reinstating it.
Telecom operators warn that the tax would raise service costs and make it harder to close Nigeria’s digital divide, which still leaves more than 40% of the population without internet access.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said the proposal lacks detail and would increase the financial burden on users.
“We’ve had no clarity on how the 5% tax would be implemented, but the burden will fall on the consumer. Telecoms should be treated as a social good, not taxed like luxury items. No one taxes telecoms like this in countries where infrastructure is taken seriously,” he said.
ALTON also noted that operators are already subject to 54 different taxes nationwide.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has not yet received the official version of the bill for review.
Telecom
GSMA Urges Governments to Prioritise Affordable Spectrum Costs to Support Global Digital Growth

The GSMA released its latest ‘Global Spectrum Pricing Report’, highlighting that average spectrum prices have not reduced in line with operator revenues over the last decade — putting significant pressure on their ability to invest in essential network infrastructure.
The report shows that, whilst both consumer prices for mobile services and the average cost of spectrum have fallen, the overall cost burden on mobile network operators (MNOs) has actually risen sharply. Global cumulative spectrum costs now account for 7% of operator revenues, a 63% increase over the past ten years.
Meanwhile, the average revenue generated per megahertz (MHz) of spectrum has declined by 60% over the same period. Although costs per MHz have fallen by up to 75% in some bands since 2014, operators have increased spectrum holdings by 80% over the same period to cope with bandwidth demand, driving up the overall cost.
A gigabyte of data is far more affordable today than ten years ago, with operators experiencing a staggering 96% fall in revenue per GB between 2014 and 2024. However, these falling revenues, when combined with the proportionately high cost of acquiring spectrum, restrict operators’ ability to invest in expanding and improving mobile networks, particularly 4G and 5G. The report shows that higher spectrum costs correlate directly with lower network coverage and reduced mobile speeds, impacting consumers and slowing the development of digital economies worldwide.
Vivek Badrinath, Director General of the GSMA, said: “The mobile industry sits at the heart of the digital economy, enabling services and opportunities that transform lives. But a dollar can only be spent once, and high spectrum costs can choke investment at a time when the need for affordable, reliable connectivity has never been greater. Governments and regulators must prioritise spectrum pricing that reflects market realities and fosters long-term digital growth. By ensuring spectrum is affordable, they can unlock faster network expansion, better service quality, and greater digital inclusion for all of their citizens.”
The Global Spectrum Pricing Report also highlights that public policy choices — such as setting artificially high reserve prices, creating artificial scarcity, and attaching onerous licence obligations — have often contributed to inflated spectrum costs. In some countries, spectrum costs can reach as high as 25% of operator revenues.
The GSMA urges policymakers to adjust spectrum prices in line with current market conditions and the economic realities faced by operators. With nearly 1,000 spectrum licences set to expire worldwide by 2030, upcoming renewals present a critical opportunity to reset pricing policies to drive investment in the next generation of mobile networks.
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