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.

With the Covid-19 pandemic, India has witnessed a significant increase in demand for data. The nationwide lockdown and widespread working from home have brought added pressure on the capacity of fixed and mobile networks. Providers should view this as an opportunity to expand and upsell, with cable companies in particular potentially playing a bigger role if barriers can be overcome.

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.

The digital ecosystem across Asia Pacific has proved vital in the response to recent global challenges, especially the Covid-19 pandemic. Participants from the entire digital value chain are pulling together to ensure the most positive outcome possible.

The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting widespread shift in working patterns from the office to the home have thrust communications to the fore. In this Spotlight, we focus on the usage and resiliency of mobile networks, considering fast-changing supply and demand factors as well as the implications for mobile operators and regulators.

The Covid-19 outbreak will undoubtedly impact the development of the mobile ecosystem, including uptake of 5G as deployments begin to scale. As GSMA Intelligence forecasts this impact, it’s important to understand the assumptions and market signals guiding our analysis, which we outline in this Insight Spotlight.

2019 was a pivotal year for China. The country was one of the first globally to launch 5G services. With operators and enterprises forging ahead in the development of 5G services, and growing consumer excitement, China has cemented its position as a global leader in 5G.

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 look at the rising number of mobile internet users around the world and explore the main sources of this growth.

By the end of 2019, 5.2 billion people subscribed to mobile services, accounting for 67% of the global population; this is forecast to grow by 600 million to 5.8 billion by 2025 (70% of the population). 2019 was also a pivotal year for 5G: the technology is now live in 24 markets, while 5G awareness and intention to upgrade among consumers are both on the rise. At the same time, 4G became the dominant mobile technology across the world constituting 52% of total connections; this figure will grow over the next few years, peaking at just under 60% of global connections in 2023.

Despite two thirds of the global population being mobile subscribers, the true growth story ahead will be in mobile internet subscribers, according to this latest infographic from GSMA Intelligence. Between 2019 and 2025, mobile internet subscribers will increase by more than 30%. New 4G networks, increased smartphone adoption and the growing availability of locally relevant content in emerging markets will help fuel growth in mobile internet subscribers.

Our latest infographic presents the outlook for 5G across the world. As of January 2020, mobile 5G is now commercially available from 46 operators in 24 markets worldwide. But it is not yet a priority in all markets; 4G LTE will remain dominant by percentage of connections for the next five years. The infographic also shows how 5G's share of investment is set to vary by region over the next five years.

Across 15 developing markets and split into four categories (communications, entertainment, financial and information), the survey captures country-level nuance around consumer mobile internet use cases. The regional variations in service preferences and usage habits will help to understand the needs and behaviours that drive mobile engagement today, and allow us to anticipate the trends that will carry the mobile industry into the 5G era.

This study examines how European mobile markets performed during the 4G era — in particular, how different market structures affected network quality, coverage and investment. We show that during this time period, markets with more concentrated market structures were able to deploy 4G more quickly and were better at delivering higher performances.

Across 21 markets and split into four categories (communications, entertainment, financial and information), the survey captures country-level nuance around 28 consumer mobile internet use cases. The regional variations in service preferences and usage habits will help to understand the needs and behaviours that drive mobile engagement today, and allow us to anticipate the trends that will carry the mobile industry into the 5G era.

5G has brought much hype and evangelism but little in the way of concrete analysis on its potential financial impact on mobile operators. We provide a view on what this could look like using our Consumer Insights Survey 2019 on upgrade intentions and propensity to pay. Our analysis focusses on seven high-income countries at the vanguard of 5G adoption.

By 2023, mobile's contribution to the Latin American economy will reach just over $300 billion as countries increasingly benefit from the increased uptake of mobile services and the associated improvements in productivity and efficiency. Driven by ongoing network investment and upcoming spectrum assignments, 4G adoption will accelerate in Latin America over the next few years, reaching 67% by 2025, and pave the way for 5G. The two technologies will coexist for a long time, with 5G's first commercial launch in the region expected in 2020.

5G services have become a reality in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. As of October 2019, 10 operators had launched commercial 5G services in five GCC Arab States. Mobile operators in these countries are aiming to be global leaders in 5G deployments, while governments view the technology as a potential enabler for their digital transformation ambitions. The 2020s will see 5G activities become more widespread across the region, with trials and commercial launches expected in non-GCC countries.

GSMA Intelligence has published its fourth annual Global Mobile Trends report, providing exclusive data and analysis on the key trends shaping the future of the mobile and digital ecosystems. The latest report, which comes under the headline, New decade, new industry?, presents five big trends and predicts the market dynamics set to unfold over the next 10 years as we enter a new decade. Built on best-in-class GSMA Intelligence data and produced by our in-house team of industry analysts, this flagship report covers includes topics such as the future of devices, the implications of the 5G era, enterprise IoT and Industry 4.0, and media and content. It also includes industry financial performance and growth outlooks and statistics for each region worldwide.