NEEDHAM, Mass.—Worldwide spending on telecommunications and pay TV services will hit $1.591 trillion in 2022, up 1.9% from 2021, according to new forecasts from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiannual Telecom Services Tracker.
That forecast is 0.5 percentage points higher than the IDC estimate issued in May, largely because inflationary pressures have forced telecom operators to increase prices.
This trend, the researchers noted, is a global one with their forecast for the Americas up by 0.3 percentage points, in Asia/Pacific by 0.5 percentage points, and in EMEA by 0.9 percentage points from their May estimate.
The increase in EMEA comes mostly from Europe, a region that is witnessing higher-than-average inflation while struggling to find a replacement for cheap Russian energy.
In the Americas, IDC is predicting that telecommunications and pay TV revenue will grow 1.2% from $579 billion in 2021 to $586 billion in 2022.
The inflationary pressures put “telecom operators in an uncomfortable position," said Kresimir Alic, research director, Worldwide Telecom Services at IDC. "Maintaining healthy margins will require additional rounds of price increases and their ability to carefully balance between the two forces will determine the future development of telco markets in individual countries, regions, and the whole world."
