IT departments face the same pressures as other parts of the business, and executives need to control costs while funding investments to meet strategic requirements.
Understanding IT spending trends helps telcos in their strategic decision-making and helps vendors to formulate their go-to-market offerings and value propositions.
In Ovum’s Global Telecoms Technology Spending Forecast Through 2017 and the accompanying Global Telecoms Technology Spending Forecast Through 2017, analysis provide insight into the projected size of technology spending within various geographic, sub-sector, and solution markets, and provide short- and medium-term spending forecasts for IT investment.
Market forces compel telcos to remain cautious on IT spending
The global telecom industry’s revenues will remain roughly flat over the next few years, with a decline in spending on voice services counterbalanced by growth in spending on mobile and fixed (broadband) data services.
As growth slows, market realities mean telcos must find ways to serve their existing customers profitably rather than simply growing their customer bases. Over the next five years, service and tariff innovation will be key revenue-generating strategies, while LTE rollouts, network optimization, and creative approaches to partnerships will become focal points for cost savings.
Telcos need to monetize new business models, leverage customer data by investing in analytics, and define their response to over-the-top (OTT) players. Overall, Ovum expects telecom IT spending to grow modestly, at a 0.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2013 and 2017.