For a long time, mobile network operators (MNOs) have looked longingly at untapped global markets, wishing there were a business case to justify an expansion of their networks to the nearly two billion potential customers worldwide who are either not covered by any mobile network or currently have unsatisfactory coverage.

All around the world, the mobile landscape is changing. Mobile subscriptions are expected to reach nearly 7 billion by the end of 2014, whilst mobile broadband subscribers will reach 2.3 billion.

2015 is a year in which we’ll see micro-segmentation thrust into action in emerging markets, enabling the delivery of personalized experiences to address the wide diversity within and between markets.

With growing customer demands and an increasing need to remain competitive and profitable, major operators and CSPs will channel growth in the development of new technologies, partnerships and entry into new sectors.

What will happen in 2015? Growth will, of course, continue. There is still huge pent-up demand for telecoms services in the burgeoning middle classes and aspirational consumers in the emerging markets.

It is a cliché that necessity is the mother of invention.

2015 will be a year that brings various evolutions to developing and emerging markets.

As enterprises around the world begin to plan for the year to come, Verizon’s annual view on enterprise-technology trends offers a timely reminder of what’s shaping the technology market from the business perspective.

The potential of mobile and ICT to support behavior change, supply chain, health financing, health worker enablement and other critical services has been well documented but we have yet to see significant scale and integration into the health system.

2015 is a year in which we’ll likely see a great deal of attention paid in emerging markets to how data revenues will need to quickly bridge the gap that stems from rapidly declining SMS and voice revenues.

Happy New Year from Developing Telecoms!

Wireless network operators are under increasing pressure to provide more capacity, coverage and quality without increasing end user price.

As mobile data usage escalates, so does the demand for capacity and coverage, particularly with the increased consumer adoption of smart phones, wearable devices and mobile-connected devices, in parallel with 3G and 4G deployments.

This past September saw the launch in India of the first mobile devices using the Android One standard, which aims to bring low-cost smartphones – and by extension, internet access – to the previously unconnected.

On the 16^th and 17^th of September, Informa’s 8^th annual Managed Services World Congress (MSWC) took place. Chris Buist, a Director at Coleago Consulting, chaired both days of the event, and has shared his key takeaways from the congress for operators in developing countries.

Renewable energy solutions are often considered a white elephant by telecoms companies, but this perception has been outdated for some time and operators are now beginning to catch on to its advantages.

The GSMA has announced a new initiative promoting the role of women in the mobile industry – particularly within emerging markets - as part of the Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action.

The iPhone is the perennially popular handset, in demand across the world. It is seen as the standard by which the luxury smartphone market is measured, but since the release of the iPhone 5 in 2012 the iPhone’s star has perhaps fallen slightly, with each new iteration being criticised for a lack of true innovation.

One week the axe falls on Nokia Asha and X lines. Two weeks later it unveils the Nokia 130 for ‘first-time buyers’. Where is Microsoft Devices heading in emerging markets?

After much hype and speculation, Amazon have revealed their new smart device, known as the Amazon Fire Phone.

On average, global data growth is doubling roughly every two years. The introduction of LTE has almost doubled data usage; it provides a higher bandwidth and therefore a typically better user experience.

Nokia registered a 30% drop in sales of mobile devices in the first quarter of 2014, with the group’s revenue down €0.5 billion compared to last year’s €3.1 billion.

The changing dynamic between operator services and OTT providers is a fascinating one. It is constantly evolving as the industry presses forward, and while the popularity of OTT – and the threat that this poses to operators – is undeniable, the answers are not quite so obvious.

Low-cost rural internet could soon become widespread across Africa and the Middle East following an infrastructure sharing agreement between eight major operator groups.

You can build your brand for years, investing in your network, value added services and advanced customer service tools. Then, one day, you realise a young upstart company is taking your subscriber base away from you with the promise of slashed prices.

The hottest ticket at Mobile World Congress 2014 was without doubt Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's session.

With the appetite for smartphones growing all the time in emerging markets, the field could be shaken up by Mozilla’s announcement of a low-cost device aimed at these regions.

With 5.2 billion of the world’s 6.8 billion mobile subscribers in the developing world, handset manufacturers and developers such as Nokia, Ericsson, Facebook and Mozilla, are renewing their efforts to connect and cater to emerging market consumers.

Now that the dust has settled after Mobile World Congress, I’ve had time to collect my thoughts following on from some of the conversations I had at the show.

2014 will be the year that operators trade gut and intuition for a new way of marketing – one that relies on big data analytics and science.