Mobile

Mobile networks clock $1 trillion

Staff Writer

 ·3 Mar 2013

The global mobile industry brought in US$1.6 trillion in 2012, with mobile network operators contributing over 62% – $1 trillion – of the total amount, according to the GSM Association.

Last year, consulting and strategy firm, Chetan Sharma, projected that global mobile revenue was to hit US$1.5 Trillion in 2012 – but according to the latest report from the GSMA, the total mobile ecosystem revenues were, in fact, US$1.6 trillion – or 2.2% of global GDP.

According to the GSMA’s The Mobile Economy 2013 report, the entire mobile industry is on course to contribute more than US$10 trillion over the next 5 years.

At the end of 2012, there were 6.8 billion mobile connections worldwide, the GSMA said – a figure expected to grow to 9.7 billion by the end of 2017.

Mobile broadband accounted for 1.6 billion of these connections in 2012, with the GSMA projecting that the figure would increase to 5.1 billion in 2017 – including 920 million LTE connections.

How much are operators earning?

According to the GSMA report, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) racked in US$1.002 trillion in 2012, representing a 1.4% contribution to the global GDP.

With expected growth of 2.3% per annum, this figure is projected to hit US$1.124 trillion by 2017.

Of the 10 largest mobile networks in the world, only France’s Orange Telecom has released its full-year report for 2012 – reporting EBITDA of US$18.01 billion for the year.

Taking into account their most recent half-year reportings (H1 2012), the 10 largest mobile networks in the world accrued close to $75 billion in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), servicing close to 3 billion subscribers.

Mobile network operator earnings

The top 10 networks

* Latest reporting as listed in this table
** OIBDA

All figures above represent the operators’ EBITDA – with the exception of Spain’s Telefonica, which reports on operating income before depreciation, and amortization (OIBDA).

OIBDA differs from EBITDA in that it uses operating income as a base, not earnings. It does not, therefore, include non-operating income, which tends differ year after year.

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