Predicted growth of the Middle Eastern telecoms market – is it achievable?

The telecommunications market in the Middle East is expected to reach a value of $96 billion (£56 billion) by 2018, according to a report published earlier this spring. But how could this growth be achieved? Is this a realistic target? How might current industry factors affect this? Could VC4’s Inventory Management System (IMS) help? 

The situation in the Middle East

Industry expert Analysys Mason’s report entitled ‘ The Middle East and North Africa Telecoms Market: 2014 Interim Forecast Update’ was published in late April and shows significant growth in relation to telecommunications in the region. This is particularly with regard to mobile technology, which is becoming an increasingly prevalent part of modern life.

In light of this, it has been predicted the market in the Middle East could grow significantly in value, with this potentially reaching $96 billion within the next four years. 

Analysys Mason predicts the most notable growth will be seen in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the latter increasing in value at the fastest rate.

How could this growth be achieved?

Like in any industry, there could be potential barriers to this growth, such as technical or data consolidation issues.

Therefore, communications providers should have business management models in place to help them to effectively meet changing market needs and remain competitive in an increasingly digital world – an issue that industry body Gartner highlighted in a statement on Monday June 16th.

It stated companies need to ensure the system they are using meets their specific needs, is centralised to the right level and isn’t too industrialised or customised to make sure it is effective in enabling business growth and productivity, which is something firms within the Middle Eastern telecoms market – and elsewhere – should bear in mind.

Research vice-president at Gartner Susan Tan explained: “Businesses are embracing adaptive sourcing, which addresses shortcomings in existing traditional sourcing strategies and management with a three-layer approach to services – innovative, differentiate and run – each with different service requirements, value expectations, governance, architecture and vendor and risk management.”

How could IMS help?

Here at VC4, we offer a specialist business model that is designed to help telecommunications businesses throughout the world to manage their company and data more effectively, enabling them to spend more time focusing on other aspects of their firm instead, such as growth and productivity.

IMS enables telecoms companies to organise their proceedings in one central system, which can register and manage multiple networks at any one time, with numerous benefits to doing so.

The management solution can be integrated with other systems and, as it is has been designed by telecoms engineers, is sympathetic to the needs of the industry.

IMS could be of particular benefit to the chief experience officers (CxOs) of mobile operators who are upgrading their current technology to 4G LTE (long-term evolution). In addition, IMS would help those working for fixed-line operators replacing the existing legacy networks or rolling out the FTTX projects.

Therefore, IMS can help to increase the data quality of an organisation, helping the CxO to quickly make accurate decisions and reduce both capital and operational expenditure costs, putting the company in a solid position for future expansion.

All communication service providers have to deal with reductions in their sales margins with regard to both other businesses and consumers, but IMS can help to lower the cost involved through network optimisation. 

What’s next?

It will certainly be interesting to see how the Middle Eastern telecommunications market develops over the coming few years, especially in light of advances in mobile technology and the continued growth of the UAE.
 
With the number of innovative business models available, as long as companies ensure they are using the right one for their needs, the predicted $96 billion may well become a reality in just a few short years.