Mobile technology is a key driver of e-commerce services in Central Africa. As well as being the primary platform used to access the internet, mobile technology is facilitating online payments through mobile money, helping to address the challenge of low penetration of bank cards and the risks associated with cash-on-delivery. This report identifies key areas where action is required in Central Africa to increase access to digital services in general and e-commerce services in particular.

The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2021 highlights how the mobile gender gap continues to improve in South Asia, but less so in other regions. It explores the key barriers preventing women's equal access to mobile internet as well as the rise of women's smartphone ownership, notably in India.

Strategies to monetise gaming are evolving: like with music and video streaming in the past, a subscription model is now emerging for gaming, opening up the market to new entrants, including operators. In this analysis, we take a look at how operators can capture a slice of the gaming subscription market and explore the incremental revenue opportunity.

In this report we take an in-depth look at gaming, including current consumer trends. Using insights from our survey, we explore gamer engagement across all device types. The report also examines different gaming business models and the state of competition in the market, with case studies on select gaming industry players. In addition, we identify the potential routes to gaming for operators, as well as the areas that will determine their success in this space. An accompanying dashboard provides an interactive view of the full dataset of the surveyed gaming population.

Covid-19 has exacerbated existing challenges and pain points for manufacturers and accelerated the need for smart connectivity and digital transformation. In this latest report, GSMA Intelligence discusses the benefits 5G brings to the manufacturing sector in terms of latency, density, reliability and security. It discusses the role of private networks, the different deployment models available and the industry players eyeing the opportunity ahead.

Video streaming services such as Netflix have upended the traditional media value chain, while media houses are now offering their content directly to consumers. In the crowded video streaming market, what can OTT video services do next to attract and keep new subscribers? In our view, features that make video streaming a social experience are a good move.

Strategies to monetise opportunities in gaming continue to evolve. The subscription model has been of particular interest in recent years. Subscription libraries now feature blockbuster titles, while delivery via cloud streaming is an improved experience. We outline the main strategies for subscriptions and evaluate the implications for industry players.

As we look ahead to 2021, a number of storylines will continue to run: the pandemic impact, commercialising 5G, new ways of designing/running mobile networks and the digitisation of the enterprise. This Insight Spotlight addresses the latter two, the others having been discussed in our previous piece.

Developing markets are more exposed to the inherent risks of Covid-19: social distancing is more difficult to achieve and maintain in economies more heavily reliant on cash. It has therefore been imperative that these markets look to accelerate the adoption of digital payments during the pandemic. For many, mobile money represents a ready-made vehicle for this.

The GSMA and the World Bank have developed a study to analyse the welfare impact of mobile broadband based on data from Nigeria, the largest mobile market and economy in Africa. The analysis shows that the deployment of mobile broadband infrastructure has played a significant role in increasing household welfare and reducing poverty in Nigeria.

This report analyses how far major operators have gone beyond core telecoms, the speed of growth, and the key trends by region and service. It also provides a range of case studies (Orange, KDDI, Turkcell and Telefonica) and recommendations for operators.

A number of recent factors indicate that a big year is on the horizon for mobile gaming. With several major players making significant investments in mobile gaming, and enough latent consumer demand for the emerging gaming subscription model, there will be a gold rush in 2021. OEMs and operators must move now to ensure they can benefit from the coming wave of potential new revenues.

GSMA Intelligence's Chart of the Month is a visual way of telling an important story in the mobile and broader tech ecosystem. From the shape and size of markets to trends in consumer behaviour, we aim to provide food for thought through informative visuals designed to bring colour and clarity to complex issues facing the industry. In this edition, we examine the growth of services beyond core as a share of operators' total revenue.

Enterprises are increasingly sending data to the cloud, but want to make decisions at the edge to empower agile operations. These are still early stages, but recent months have witnessed a burst of partnership activity to figure out how to capture the edge opportunity: cloud providers are teaming up with operators, and operator alliances are forming to bring edge to 5G.

Media speculation has surfaced that Reliance Jio is in advanced stages of designing a smartphone expected to be priced around $50. While the Jio initiative would impact only India, the engineering and content enhancements required for such a handset have implications for other developing countries looking to stimulate internet access rates - particularly Africa, where penetration remains stubbornly low.

With consumers now relying on digital services for shopping and other financial transactions more than ever, the pandemic provides an opportunity for operators, vendors and online service providers to address privacy concerns in order to acquire new users while also building lasting public trust in their services.

Since the mobile industry committed to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2016, the sector has been measuring progress annually. This fifth edition of the report looks at the increased impact the mobile industry has had on achieving the goals in the last year and explores what more it needs to do in the next 10 years to reach these ambitious goals. It also examines the role the mobile industry has played during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Almost half of the world's population - 3.8 billion people - are using mobile internet. This continues to grow, with an additional 250 million people connecting for the first time in 2019. For many citizens, mobile is their only means of accessing the internet, helping to unlock significant and life-enhancing knowledge, products and services.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted several major challenges facing the manufacturing sector and the need for greater operational visibility, including in the supply chain. It is also accelerating digital transformation. 5G and private networks offer one of many routes to connect manufacturing operations and processes. However, as 5G enables multiple modes of deployment, operators are no longer the default service providers and they must continue to search for the right commercialisation model.

The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2020 examines how the mobile gender gap is changing quickly in LMICs, revealing how the main factors preventing women's equal mobile ownership and internet use are evolving over time, and demonstrating how mobile usage is quickly expanding as smartphone ownership rises.