The world's telecom services revenue reached US$1.3 trillion in 2004, representing a 9.4% increase on 2003. Over the forecasted period to the end of 2009, this trend is forecasted to continue with revenues expected to grow by US$335 billion to reach US$1.6 trillion. This represents a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8%. Telecom services grew in every region in 2004; however fixed revenue was flat in North America and is forecasted to decrease by an average of 0.6% over the next 5 years. North America and Western Europe are continuing to lose ground to other regions, and it is forecasted that by the end of 2009, North America, Western Europe and Asia will each represent around 25% of the world's telecom service revenue.

2004 and 2005 have been marked by consolidations and mergers of some of the world's largest carriers. The two most recent being the acquisition of the global operator Teleglobe by the Indian incumbent VSNL and the acquisition of 55% of Turk Telekom by a joint venture between Oger Telecom and Telecom Italia for US$6.55 billion.

The fixed line sector continues its contracting trend with 5.6% subscriber growth in 2004, which was mainly generated by Asia, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. Conversely, North America and Western Europe both saw virtually no growth in that sector. Fixed voice services however still remain the primary source of revenue for telecom carriers.

As the mobile market peaked in 2004 with a growth of 24.3% and 1.7 billion subscribers, mobile expansion will soon follow in the fixed market's foot steps and start to slow down in 2005. Western Europe is soon to hit market saturation; however Asia is continuing to spawn a major portion of the world's mobile growth by generating 38% of the world's new subscribers in 2004.

The number of Internet subscribers increased by 77 million in 2004 to reach a total of 652 million and a growth rate of 13.4%. All regions had significant Internet growth in 2004, but some signs of slow down are starting to appear in North America and Western Europe.

Broadband played a major role in Internet expansion in 2004, as 61.7% of the sector's growth was generated by new broadband subscribers. It is forecasted that the number of Internet customers will reach 946 million by the end of 2009 and by that time, broadband will represent 45.0% of all Internet connections.

 Find our more about the world's telecom market status and forecast in HOT TELECOM's new 34-page country report.
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