KUALA LUMPUR: Juniper Research predicted that there will be over 1.5 billion inbound roaming connections in 2024, which are expected to rise to 2.4 billion by 2028.
The new global report assessed the wholesale roaming landscape across 60 key countries, forecasting the market for five years, and identified the top five countries for inbound roaming subscribers in 2024.
The top five countries are the United States (164 million); France (147 million); China (136 million); Spain (70 million); and Mexico (66 million).
Together, these countries will account for over 583 million inbound roaming connections, representing 40 per cent of the global market share next year, according to Juniper Research in a statement.
The research identified factors such as strong tourist markets, as well as established and comprehensive roaming agreements as key to high numbers of inbound roaming connections in these five countries.
Specifically, VoLTE roaming readiness and contingencies for 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) connections will prove critical in maximising the return on investment for wholesale roaming revenue.
The analysis also forecasts global wholesale roaming revenue will rise from US$7.1 billion in 2023 to US$27.6 billion by 2028, which will be driven by the proliferation in the demand for data-centric use cases, including IoT over VoLTE and 5G networks. (US$1=RM4.60)
The research urges operators to invest in strong network analytics and device identification tools either in-house or via third-party roaming providers to enable detection of data-intensive roaming connections to provide accurate billing settlements, thus maximising wholesale roaming revenue. – BERNAMA
