{"id":4865,"date":"2016-03-21T16:23:07","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T16:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/?p=4865"},"modified":"2016-03-21T16:24:44","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T16:24:44","slug":"the-mobile-economy-report-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mobile Economy Report 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gsmamobileeconomy.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4866\" title=\"Mobile Economy Report 2016 650x218\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Mobile-Economy-Report-2016-650x218.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Mobile-Economy-Report-2016-650x218.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Mobile-Economy-Report-2016-650x218-300x100.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The mobile industry saw unprecedented growth in 2015, driven in part by the adoption of 4G technologies in more than 150 countries, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gsmamobileeconomy.com\/\"><em>GSMA Mobile Economy Report 2016<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em> \u00a0There are now 4.7 billion unique mobile subscribers of which 47% are connected to mobile broadband networks. The GSMA forecasts that the global unique subscriber base will reach 5.6 billion by 2020, meaning that more than 72% of the world\u2019s population will be connected. This ongoing growth is leaving a remarkable socio-economic footprint. Thanks in part to major investments in broadband and LTE network deployments, the mobile ecosystem generates 4.2% of global GDP, which equates to 3.1 trillion dollars. It also employs 17 million people and creates an additional 15 million jobs in other sectors.<\/p>\n<p>By providing wireless Internet access and other services, the mobile industry increases digital inclusion among formerly unconnected populations, enables financial inclusion for the unbanked and provides access to other vital services via innovative apps. Smartphones and high-speed broadband have become the foundations of the new digital ecosystem, enabling the development of a growing range of digital services and platforms.<\/p>\n<p>Although broadly positive, such developments also bring challenges for mobile operators, who need to be able to adapt and \u2018converge\u2019 services in order to sustain the network investments required to further expand the connectivity. In such a complex and dynamic digital environment, a new and comprehensive regulatory approach is vital. Regulation should enable the realization of economies of scale by applying a holistic approach across\u00a0the digital ecosystem, one\u00a0that genuinely addresses the diversity of players in it. A well-designed regulatory framework should follow a bottom-up approach, which would safeguard competition and allow flexibility of the digital markets. Policymakers should recognise these challenges and implement reforms that are fit to enable the true potential of the digital era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The mobile industry saw unprecedented growth in 2015, driven in part by the adoption of 4G technologies in more than 150 countries, according to the GSMA Mobile Economy Report 2016. \u00a0There are now 4.7 billion unique mobile subscribers of which 47% are connected to mobile broadband networks. The GSMA forecasts that the global unique subscriber [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"algolia_discover_type":[5018],"class_list":["post-4865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","algolia_discover_type-article"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Mobile Economy Report 2016 - GSMA Europe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Mobile Economy Report 2016\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The mobile industry saw unprecedented growth in 2015, driven in part by the adoption of 4G technologies in more than 150 countries, according to the GSMA Mobile Economy Report 2016. \u00a0There are now 4.7 billion unique mobile subscribers of which 47% are connected to mobile broadband networks. The GSMA forecasts that the global unique subscriber [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GSMA Europe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-21T16:23:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-21T16:24:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Mobile-Economy-Report-2016-650x218.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tskinner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tskinner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Mobile Economy Report 2016 - GSMA Europe","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Mobile Economy Report 2016","og_description":"The mobile industry saw unprecedented growth in 2015, driven in part by the adoption of 4G technologies in more than 150 countries, according to the GSMA Mobile Economy Report 2016. \u00a0There are now 4.7 billion unique mobile subscribers of which 47% are connected to mobile broadband networks. The GSMA forecasts that the global unique subscriber [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/","og_site_name":"GSMA Europe","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/","article_published_time":"2016-03-21T16:23:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-03-21T16:24:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Mobile-Economy-Report-2016-650x218.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"tskinner","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GSMA","twitter_site":"@GSMA","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tskinner","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/"},"author":{"name":"tskinner","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/#\/schema\/person\/1b40bad877c2a9852e15903ab9c5a548"},"headline":"The Mobile Economy Report 2016","datePublished":"2016-03-21T16:23:07+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-21T16:24:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/"},"wordCount":295,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Mobile-Economy-Report-2016-650x218.jpg","articleSection":["General"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/europe\/general\/the-mobile-economy-report-2016\/","name":"The Mobile Economy Report 2016 - 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