Deloitte: Top telecoms trends for 2013

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

The technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) practice at Deloitte today announces its predictions for telecoms trends in 2013.

The benefits of LTE are widely recognised  and include the ability to handle more traffic at faster speeds and with more efficient use of a finite spectrum. However, LTE comes at a significant price: network upgrades, spectrum purchases, marketing and LTE handset subsidies are all potential constraints on the pace of roll out.

A record one billion smartphones will be shipped in 2013. One in every five smartphone owners may never or rarely connect to the web. Technology offerings will vary widely, with smartphones costing from less than £30 to more than £400.  Low-cost iterations, potentially offering less attractive download experiences, are likely to expand. Smartphone vendors should determine how best to differentiate products with clients unlikely to use data services, for example by pre-loading offline apps.

Jolyon Barker, global lead for Deloitte’s technology, media and telecommunications industry, comments on these telecoms trends: “This year’s predictions cover a range of topics, highlighting developments around Long Term Evolution (LTE), access to data, and smartphones.

“There will be an upsurge in momentum behind Long Term Evolution (LTE), known as 4G in the UK, with the first operator launching late last year and the other major operators due to follow this year. The ability of LTE to deliver more data at faster speeds suggests the service will thrive in 2013. LTE subscriber numbers are likely to triple, reaching around 200 million globally, as customers take advantage of improved performance in existing 3G services, such as email, multimedia messaging and browsing.”