Telecom
IDC Forecasts Worldwide Mobility Spending to Reach $1.72Tri in 2021
By peter oluka
Worldwide spending on mobility solutions is forecast to reach $1.72 trillion in 2021, according to the recently updated Worldwide Semiannual Mobility Spending Guide from International Data Corporation (IDC).
Although annual growth is expected to slow over the 2016-2021 forecast period, IDC still expects spending on mobility-related hardware, software, and services to see a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7%. Worldwide mobility spending will total $1.58 trillion in 2017, an increase of 4.3% over 2016.
The United States will account for nearly one quarter of all mobility spending throughout the forecast, making it the largest geographic market at nearly $392 billion in 2021. Mainland China will be the second largest country in terms of overall spending ($337 billion in 2021), followed by Japan, Brazil, and the UK.
The countries that will see the fastest growth in mobility spending over the five-year forecast period will be Venezuela (8.2% CAGR), India (8.0% CAGR), Philippines (7.0% CAGR) and Peru (6.7% CAGR).
In contrast, four countries (Australia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan) are forecast to experience a slight decline in mobility spending.
Consumers will provide more than 70% of total mobility spending for all but the last year of the forecast.
Most of this spending will go toward mobile connectivity services and smartphones. In addition to being the largest source of spending, the consumer sector will also experience the slowest growth with a five-year CAGR of 1.3%.
Banking and professional services will be the two industries with the largest mobility spending over the forecast period, reaching $55.1 billion and $54.9 billion in 2021, respectively.
Discrete manufacturing and retail will be close behind with 2021 outlays of $49.7 billion and $45.7 billion.
The industries with the fastest growth in mobility spending will be professional services (7.5% CAGR), construction (7.1% CAGR), and telecommunications (7.0% CAGR). Four other industries (federal/central government, healthcare, retail, and security and investment services) will also outpace the overall market, each with a 6.9% CAGR.
“A highly mobile, on-the-go workforce is a key driver of mobility in both the professional services and construction industries,” said Jessica Goepfert, program director, Customer Insights and Analysis. “User expectations are high within professional services, as they depend on mobile solutions to enable and create exceptional and memorable client interactions and experiences. In construction, which is typically slow to change, we are seeing mobility implementations with the goal of streamlining project administration. In every industry, mobility can provide an advantage over slower-moving competitors by helping firms to complete jobs faster, more efficiently, and with fewer errors.”
The largest technology category will be mobility services, which will account for roughly 60% of all mobility spending throughout the forecast. While mobile connectivity services will be the largest spending segment at $950 billion in 2021, enterprise mobile services will be one of the fastest growing segments with a 15.3% CAGR.
Hardware will be the second largest technology category, led by smartphone purchases. Despite being the smallest category, software represents an important area of investment for enterprises and each of its technology segments (enterprise mobility management, mobile application development platforms, mobile enterprise applications, and mobile enterprise security) will experience double-digit growth throughout the forecast.
“Successful mobilization strategies demand thoughtful integration to broad digitalization strategies and technologies,” said Denise Lund, research director, Enterprise Mobility at IDC. “This means every IT buyer should prioritize vendor solutions that deliver foundational yet flexible and scalable connectivity, security, and device and application management platforms and services. With these qualities, the leverage of today’s and tomorrow’s innovative cloud services will be possible.”
From a company size perspective, small offices with 1 to 9 employees will account for roughly three quarters of all mobility spending worldwide as these businesses purchase mobile devices, connectivity services, and mobility services as an affordable alternative to traditional IT solutions. Very large businesses (1000+ employees) and large businesses (500-999 employees) will deliver the fastest spending growth with five-year CAGRs of 7.8% and 6.9%, respectively.
IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Mobility Spending Guide is designed to address the needs of technology organizations assessing the mobile opportunity by country, industry, and company size perspective.
The spending guide provides subscribers with spending data on ten technology categories across 19 industries, five company size bands, and 53 countries. Unlike any other research in the industry, the comprehensive spending guide can help IT decision makers to clearly understand the industry-specific scope and direction of mobility spending today and over the next five years.
Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) on Monday commended the Federal Ministry of Communication, Innovation, and Digital Economy (FMCIDE) for spearheading a new initiative known as ‘Project Bridge’.
Tony Emoekpere, president, ATCON, stated in an interview with NAN in Lagos that the initiative aimed to create a robust and resilient telecommunications backbone across Nigeria.
Emoekpere stated that the project was an ambitious public-private partnership designed to connect all 36 states and Abuja, as well as LGAs, via fiber optic cables.
According to him, the initiative is not meant to replace existing infrastructure but to complement it, creating a more resilient network.
“Right now, most of the networks that we have are linear in nature. ’Just imagine, if there’s only one road from Lagos to Ibadan; if anything happens to that road, you would not get to Ibadan.
‘’This project will create alternative routes,” he said.
The ATCON boss stated that the project was modeled after the successful PPP framework in the energy sector, with the government contributing a certain percentage to the Special Purpose Vehicle and the private sector providing the remaining funding.
He stated that the project’s goal was to establish alternative, redundant connections, thereby ensuring that services remained uninterrupted even if one part of the network was compromised.
The president expressed the full support of telcos, noting that the project would enable members to deliver services more effectively in locations where infrastructure was currently a significant challenge.
“With this project, we will have multiple options,” he said.
Project BRIDGE involves building a nationwide fiber optic network to expand digital infrastructure and connectivity, rather than a physical bridge, as part of Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan.
The project is a public-private partnership ($2 billion cost) using an SPV to deploy 90,000km of fiber-optic cable to enhance education, healthcare, and the digital economy.
MTN Nigeria has successfully completed a scheduled network maintenance operation that affected 101 sites across 15 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Adamawa, Borno, and Kano States.
The restoration marks a significant step in the company’s ongoing efforts to enhance service reliability in the Northeast region, amidst multiple fibre cuts and vandalism.
The maintenance, which took place on Sunday, August 24, involved the cutover of traffic to a newly installed fiber span along the AFCOT–Bawo Village route in Adamawa State.
This upgrade was necessary to replace a previously damaged section of the network infrastructure. All service maintenance was done within timeframe and restorations before 1 PM on Sunday August 24th.
We can confirm that all impacted sites have been fully restored, and services are now operating normally. We appreciate our subscribers’ patience and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused during the downtime.
The affected services included 2G, 3G, 4G, and enterprise connectivity, with temporary disruptions experienced in LGAs such as Girei, Song, Mubi North, Hong, and Michika in Adamawa; Askira/Uba and Shani in Borno; and Nasarawa in Kano.
The work was scheduled during daylight hours to ensure the safety of field engineers, given the linear and unprotected nature of the route.
This restoration is part of MTN’s broader strategy to strengthen its infrastructure in underserved regions and ensure consistent service delivery across Nigeria, amidst constant fibre cuts and vandalism.
TikTok has launched its music insights platform, TikTok for Artists, in Nigeria to support artist growth and fan engagement across the country’s vibrant music industry.
The platform, which debuted globally earlier this year, provides artists, labels, and management teams with access to daily-updated dashboards and analytics tools to track music performance, audience demographics, and fan interactions.
Toyin Mustapha, Head of Music Partnerships for the UK, Ireland, and Sub-Saharan Africa at TikTok, said the initiative was part of the company’s commitment to empowering African creators.
“With the launch of TikTok for Artists in Nigeria, we’re giving artists and their teams access to insights that can help them engage their fans in more meaningful ways and grow their careers globally,” Mustapha said.
The platform offers detailed song performance metrics, including views, posts, and creator engagements per track. It also provides granular post-level data such as likes, comments, shares, and completion rates, alongside demographic breakdowns by gender, age, and language.
In addition to analytics, TikTok for Artists includes educational resources and step-by-step guides to help artists build sustainable careers.
A key feature of the platform is the Pre-Release tool, which allows artists to launch campaigns for upcoming albums and enables fans to pre-save tracks on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
British artist Jordan Adetunji described the platform as a “game changer,” noting its value in helping artists and their teams plan effective campaigns.
TikTok said the rollout reaffirms its investment in Africa’s creative economy and aims to foster deeper connections between artists and fans across the continent.
The platform is now available to all certified TikTok Artist Accounts, with access also extendable to managers and label teams.
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