Global Telecom Industry: Operator Revenue, Capex and Economic Impact

The GSMA Mobile Economy 2026 report says the mobile industry supports 8.8 billion wireless connections, including 5.8 billion unique subscribers [1]. The GSMA puts unique subscribers at around 70% of the world population [2].

In 2025 the industry supported 50 million jobs and generated more than USD 800 billion in public revenues [1].

Mobile operator revenues were USD 1.19 trillion in 2025 and are forecast to reach USD 1.36 trillion by 2030 [1][3]. That implies average growth of about 2.7% a year (FREEE.REPORT calculation).

Operators are expected to invest about USD 1.2 trillion in capex over 2025-2030 [1][3]. Regional reports show where some of that money goes. In Africa, operators are expected to invest more than USD 76 billion in network infrastructure between 2024 and 2030 [4].

Mobile technologies and services generated USD 7.6 trillion of economic value in 2025, or 6.4% of global GDP [1]. Productivity effects made up the largest part at USD 4.8 trillion. The direct contribution of the mobile ecosystem was almost USD 2 trillion [1].

The GSMA projects the contribution will reach USD 11.3 trillion by 2030, or 8.4% of GDP [1].

• North America: USD 1.9 trillion in 2025, 5.8% of regional GDP [5]
• Eurasia: USD 270 billion in 2025, 8.1% of GDP [5]
• Africa: USD 240 billion in 2025, 7.8% of GDP, with about 13 million jobs and USD 45 billion in public revenues [4]
• Asia Pacific: USD 950 billion in 2024, 5.6% of regional GDP [6]

The GSMA expects 2G and 3G to fall to just 1% and 5% of connections respectively by 2030 [1]. Forecast 5G adoption by 2030 differs widely by region. The GCC states are forecast at 95% of connections, North America at 89% and Europe at 82%. Africa is forecast at 21% [1].

The report also points to 6G planning. It expects channel sizes to grow from 100 MHz in the 5G era to 200-400 MHz, with bands such as 4.5 GHz and 7 GHz under study ahead of WRC-27 [1].

More than 3 billion people, just under 40% of the world population, still do not use mobile internet, even though 96% live in areas covered by mobile broadband [1]. The GSMA says the usage gap is almost 10 times larger than the coverage gap [1].

Affordability is the main barrier. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a smartphone cost 26% of monthly GDP per capita in 2024, against an average of 16% across low- and middle-income countries [1].

This report draws on the GSMA Mobile Economy 2026 report and the GSMA's regional Mobile Economy releases [1][2][4][5][6]. GSMA Intelligence prepared these figures. Revenue, capex and GDP values are in USD. The 2030 values are GSMA forecasts. Operator revenue covers mobile operators only, not fixed-line or wider telecom services. ITU telecom revenue and investment statistics were not checked for this edition.

FREEE.REPORT calculation: the average annual growth rate of operator revenue is (1.36 / 1.19)^(1/5) - 1, which is about 2.7% a year for 2025-2030. The regional figures come from separate GSMA reports with different base years (2024 or 2025), so they are listed rather than added up.