London, February 3^rd, 2020 – Mobile data roaming traffic generated by consumer mobile phones and IoT devices reached 737 Petabytes in 2019, according to a new report from roaming experts Kaleido Intelligence. Consumer mobile device traffic will account for the majority of this and is forecast to reach 2,000 Petabytes in 2024, representing an average annual growth of 22% over the period.

Driven by the significant increase in roaming data traffic across key regions including Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Kaleido predicts that consumer inbound wholesale roaming revenues will reach $16 billion in 2024, with IoT adding a further $5.7 billion.

See further details on the report: Wholesale Roaming Strategies & Competitive Analysis 2020

Access our free takeaway report: How Operators are Approaching the $16BN Wholesale Roaming Opportunity.

Nitin Bhas, Chief of Strategy & Insights at Kaleido Intelligence said: “Backed by our MNO and MVNO survey findings, Roam-Like-At-Home will continue to be the most important revenue driver, followed by the introduction of IoT and 5G roaming services. However, the challenge here is to identify and predict what data roaming services will look like in 3 years time; i.e. IoT and 5G use cases that will have an impact – anything from connected cars to high-speed video services.”

Kaleido Intelligence’s Roaming Data Hub, launched in December 2019, tracks an exhaustive list of forecast metrics for Wholesale Mobile, Retail Mobile & IoT Roaming, including travel and device adoption, traffic, wholesale and retail revenues across voice, SMS and data usage.

Telco Roaming Challenges & Opportunities: Survey Findings

Key findings from Kaleido Intelligence’s operator survey^* conducted in H2 2019 included:

• Ensuring a premium customer experience from a 4G and 5G roaming perspective similar to domestic levels for both consumer and enterprise sectors was found to be the biggest challenge by participants.
• Meanwhile, real-time business analytics and intelligence including predictive analysis and forecasting alongside advanced campaign management capabilities were found to be the most popular and immediate technical requirement.
• 67% of the global operators surveyed reported over 5% increase in traffic in 2019; in comparison, 11% reported between 1-5% increase.

BICS, Mobileum, Vodafone Roaming Services, Nextgen Clearing Leads Kaleido Scores for Roaming Vendors

Kaleido Intelligence’s Wholesale Roaming Strategies & Competitive Analysis 2020 report analyses the wholesale roaming sector, including an in-depth assessment of leading vendors across the roaming value chain. The report interviewed and scored 30 roaming vendors and wholesale providers. Detailed results are included in this report.

Jon King, Chief Commercial Officer, explained: ““Kaleido’s approach focused on categorising vendors according to their strengths and weaknesses, identifying the company’s unique market positioning, problem-solving capabilities, innovation leadership and finally, how the vendor is positioned to meet MNO/MVNO needs and requirements.”

The top three players across key product segments as scored by Kaleido Intelligence are as follows.

Mikael Schachne, CMO and VP Mobility & IoT Solutions at BICS said: “We are pleased to have received the leading Kaleido Score in IPX alongside top scores across multiple product categories. This showcases how well positioned BICS is to address all kinds of roaming specificities. BICS is constantly innovating and remains at the cutting edge of technology to provide the best cost and quality for operators”.

About Kaleido Intelligence

Kaleido Intelligence is a specialist consulting and market research firm with a proven track record delivering telecom research at the highest level. Kaleido Intelligence is the only research company addressing mobile roaming in its entirety, covering:

• Data Forecasts by Market
• Historical & Forecast Viewpoints
• Competitive Intelligence
• Strategic Insight
• Trend Analysis

Research is led by expert analysts, each with significant experience delivering roaming insights that matter.

_{*Kaleido Intelligence surveyed roaming department heads and managers across leading operator groups, full and light MVNOs, during the period Q4 2019 to understand key challenges, technical requirements and future revenue drivers and opportunities.}

Download a copy of our company brochure here.    See further details on our Wholesale Roaming Strategies & Competitive Analysis 2020 report