The Mobile Economy 2013 report was launched last week at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona. Providing a comprehensive overview of the mobile industry today, the report also outlines the key opportunities and challenges for the industry over the next five years.

With the number of mobile subscribers standing at 3.2 billion people, nearly half of the world’s population now uses mobile communications. Furthermore, it is expected that a further 700 million subscribers will be added by 2017 and the 4 billion-subscriber milestone will be reached in 2018. At the launch of the report, Anne Bouverot, Director General, GSMA commented that “mobile has become a vibrant and evolving industry at the heart of everyday life for billions of people around the world.”

The report outlines many of the opportunities and initiatives that will continue to propel the industry forward, including Connected Living, Mobile Commerce and Future Communications, and also highlights the important work the mobile industry undertakes to support and protect citizens around the world. It also points to several factors critical to further growth, including timely and reasonable access to spectrum resources needed to support dramatic growth in data traffic, and a transparent, consultative and predictable regulatory environment.

In this video clip, Mark Page, co-author of the report and leader of A.T. Kearney’s Communications, Media and Technology practice, talks about the value of the report and some of the key points contained within.

You can read the report here – http://www.gsmamobileeconomy.com/