Telecoms growth “stalling” due to market saturation

Growth in the telecoms market is stalling, industry analysts at TeleGeography revealed this week.

The world’s top twenty service providers saw revenues increase just 3% on year during the first quarter of 2009, including growth from mergers and acquisitions.

The providers’ overall revenue of $251 billion for the quarter represents a 1% drop on the previous three months.

Emerging markets in the east remain the most buoyant, with 48% of the reported growth coming from China and India.

Major European economies such as the UK and Germany, however, saw essentially no growth in mobile phone subscribers.

TeleGeography blamed the slowdown on market saturation in western countries rather than the recent financial turmoil.

“The global telecoms service market is experiencing a gradual slowdown in growth, caused not by the world economy but by near saturation in many well-developed markets,” a statement from the company said.

Equipment vendors were the hardest hit by stalling sales, hit by a “treble whammy of reduced spending by consumers, service providers and enterprises alike.”

Telegeography forecasts that revenue growth in the telecoms sector will drop to an average of 3.5% over the next five years.