Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

GSMA Warns Internet Value Chain Growth to Stall Unless Market Imbalances Addressed

16/05/2022

Double-Digit Internet Value Chain Growth at Risk if Infrastructure Investors Cannot Realise Meaningful Returns

16 May, London: A new GSMA report warns market imbalances between network operators and online services providers may put global growth prospects at risk across multiple sectors of the internet-based economy. Policymakers, the report urges, must consider the interdependence of online services and other growth sectors on the underlying infrastructure investment.

The GSMA 2022 Internet Value Chain Report reveals factors including asymmetric regulation and restrictions, sector-specific taxes, and spectrum costs are squeezing the business models of infrastructure providers whilst allowing Big Tech to thrive.

Telco squeeze

The study finds that revenues across the internet value chain nearly doubled in five years, from $3.3 trillion in 2015 to $6.7 trillion in 2020. Much of this growth comes from online services; they saw a 19% increase in revenue per annum in 2020.

Paid-for online services will soon exceed $1trillion in revenues, driving huge capacity demand on global networks.

With an annual growth rate of 7.5%, the number of users being connected to the internet globally shows no sign of slowing.

Traffic per user grew at 27% per year, with almost 80% of that being driven by video traffic.

Yet the return on investment in infrastructure for network operators was far lower, between 6% and 11%. The report highlighted average sub-10% returns on capital as a concern due to pressure on telecom operators to keep investing CAPEX at rates of up to 20% of revenue.

The GSMA's Chairman Jos Mar a lvarez-Pallete said, The internet connects 4.6 billion people and drives the global economy. It is transforming business models, unlocking new opportunities, and uplifting communities across the world. But as some sectors in the internet value chain thrive, the demands of investing in the infrastructure those sectors rely on for growth are squeezing network operators. We welcome the growing recognition of this issue by policymakers, and as the internet-based economy expands across all sectors over the next decade.

The report notes that counterproductive taxation on infrastructure, cumbersome regulatory requirements, and other value-eroding factors can reduce incentives for infrastructure investment. It encourages policymakers to consider the full landscape of taxation and regulation, ensuring that companies investing in infrastructure are incentivised to build and upgrade the networks that underpin online services.

Download the 2022 Internet Value Chain report.

-ENDS-

About GSMA

The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organisations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for its members across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach. This activity includes advancing policy, tackling today's biggest societal challenges, underpinning the technology and interoperability that make mobile work, and providing the world's largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.

We invite you to find out more at gsma.com

Media Contacts

For the GSMA

GSMA Press Office

pressoffice@gsma.com

Like what you read? Share.
LINK: https://www.gsma.com/newsroom/press-release/gsma-warns-internet-value-...
See more stories from gsma

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

22/01/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Chuck Luarasi, Curry College

SVG Students To Watch: Chuck Luarasi, Curry CollegeThe Massachusetts native is cutting his teeth with Harvard Athletics, Cape Cod Baseball LeagueBy Brandon Cost...

22/01/2026

Follow the Money, Episode 4: Talking Tech, Sports, and Private Capital With Sam McCleery and Alysse Soll

Follow the Money, Episode 4: Talking Tech, Sports, and Private Capital With Sam ...

22/01/2026

Fever Pitch: WRC is Back for the Start of the 2026 Season With Rallye Monte-Carlo in 1080p For the First Time

Fever pitch: WRC is back for the start of the 2026 season with Rallye Monte-Carl...

22/01/2026

FloSports Prepares To Broadcast Outdoor Hockey Game Amidst Brutally Cold Temperatures in Southern Minnesota

FloSports Prepares To Broadcast Outdoor Hockey Game Amidst Brutally Cold Tempera...

22/01/2026

As Paramount+ Enters the Octagon, UFC's Craig Borsari Previews Production Plans, Teases Innovations

As Paramount Enters the Octagon, UFC's Craig Borsari Previews Production Pl...

22/01/2026

A Recluse Goes on a Quest To Save His Dog and Fight a Demon in OBEX

By Jordan Crucchiola It's a desire you hear so often among those in filmmaking circles. I just want to make cool stuff with my friends. With the NEXT selec...

22/01/2026

Lyrical Seeds Is a Stunning Portrait of Black Generational Farmers

Brittany Shyne attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Seeds at The Ray Theatre on January 25, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Robin Marshall/Sh...

22/01/2026

Sundance Institute-Supported Train Dreams, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, and More Land Oscar Nominations

Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones appear in Train Dreams by Clint Bentley, an off...

22/01/2026

Watch Ed Sheeran's Dublin Concert in a New Billions Club Live Film on Spotify

Last November, Ed Sheeran returned to his musical roots for an intimate, one-nig...

22/01/2026

L3Harris to Provide Advanced Technology for Korean Geostationary Weather Satellite

MELBOURNE, Fla., Jan 22, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) has received a...

22/01/2026

Should we automate or augment AI?

Every delay costs. When a subtitle fails QC, even the smallest issue can mean missed deadlines, extra vendor costs, or frustrated teams. The new Accurate.Video ...

22/01/2026

Gracenote Appoints AdTech Veteran Bill Condon First Head of Advertising Sales

Strategic hire marks latest milestone in Gracenote's continued expansion into CTV advertising & monetization New York - January 21, 2026 - Nielsen's Gr...

22/01/2026

IBC Issues Call for Technical Papers for IBC2026 Conference

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

Spectrum to Award $1 Million in 2026 Digital Education Grants

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

StreamGuys Bolsters Its Audio Advertising Ranks

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

NAB, Broadcasters Press FCC to End Ownership Caps

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

Maxon Hires Steve Forde as Chief Product Officer

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

Details Emerge About Adobe Film & TV Fund Commitment

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

A Four-Time Emmy Award Winner on Defining His Sound

A Four-Time Emmy Award Winner on Defining His SoundCharles David Denler is a Composer and Pianist for film, television, and the Concert Stage. He is a 4 Time E...

22/01/2026

Rohde & Schwarz, Qualcomm, and Motorola demonstrate successful 5G Broadcast compatibility in Brazil

Rohde & Schwarz, Qualcomm, and Motorola demonstrate successful 5G Broadcast comp...

22/01/2026

Dalet Appoints Gwen Braygreen as Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

22/01/2026

Flight Controls Are Cleared for Takeoff on GeForce NOW

The wait is over, pilots. Flight control support - one of the most community-requested features for GeForce NOW - is live starting today, following its announce...

22/01/2026

From Pilot to Profit: Survey Reveals the Financial Services Industry Is Doubling Down on AI Investment and Open Source

AI has taken center stage in financial services, automating the research and exe...

22/01/2026

How to Get Started With Visual Generative AI on NVIDIA RTX PCs

AI-powered content generation is now embedded in everyday tools like Adobe and Canva, with a slew of agencies and studios incorporating the technology into thei...

21/01/2026

Australia's Greatest Conman? premieres 24 February on SBS and SBS On Demand

Australia's Greatest Conman? premieres 24 February on SBS and SBS On Demand Media releases The $900 million dollar mystery that fooled our nation Austra...

21/01/2026

SBS ignites Lunar New Year with bold storytelling for The Year of the Fire Horse

SBS ignites Lunar New Year with bold storytelling for The Year of the Fire Horse 21 January, 2026 Media releases SBS is charging into Lunar New Year 2026 w...

21/01/2026

Nielsen's All Screens Video Landscape Report Reveals Shift in Polish Media Rankings and Deeper Audience Engagement

The Living Room Remains Central: Nielsen Highlights Growing TV Screen Dominance ...

21/01/2026

NAB Urges Swift Action by FCC on NextGen TV Transition

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

SmallHD Releases Major PageOS Software Update

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

WBGU-TV in Ohio to Drop PBS Affiliation

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

Telestream DIVA Now Certified with Quantum ActiveScale an...

Telestream , the industry's leading provider of content lifecycle management and media workflow orchestration, and Quantum Corporation (NASDAQ: QMCO) today ...

21/01/2026

Lightware introduces new Matrix Management Unit for their...

Lightware s TPN ecosystem brings a new level of predictability and structure to 10G AV-over-IP deployments, offering professional AV integrators a deterministic...

21/01/2026

Wisycom Introduces New Wideband Antenna Matrix MATF for C...

Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless RF solutions, launches its new wideband antenna matrix, MATF, which supports RF and fiber for demanding multi-zone...

21/01/2026

Grass Valley Showcases Scalable Future-Ready Live Product...

Grass Valley will demonstrate how it is powering scalable, future-ready live production at FOMEX 2026, taking place February 2 4 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Exhibi...

21/01/2026

OKAST Implements BCNEXXT Vipe to Accelerate Monetization...

BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced that OKAST, the monetization-first OTT platform provider, is using BCNEXXT's ...

21/01/2026

Magewell Introduces New IP to HDMI Decoder at ISE 2026 an...

Revamped design enables advanced capabilities, leading with powerful IP to HDMI conversion Magewell, developer of innovative, high-performance video I/O and I...

21/01/2026

Kiloview Expands Its AV-over-IP Ecosystem with AVX24-4 Me...

Jan 20th 2026, Changsha Kiloview today announced the launch of two major additions to its AV-over-IP ecosystem: the AVX24-4 Media HUB and KiloLink Station, ma...

21/01/2026

Bitfocus delivers high availability high security and hig...

Latest version of enterprise-class Buttons brings simple, coherent control to more than 700 professional devices and applications Bitfocus, the specialist in ...

21/01/2026

Clear-Com Announces Kari Eythorsson as New Regional Sale...

Clear-Com is pleased to announce the appointment of Kari Eythorsson as the new Regional Sales Manager (RSM) for Southeast Asia & Australia, based in Singapore,...

21/01/2026

Netflix Amends Warner Bros Discovery Bid to Offer All Cash

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

Advanced Systems Group Inks Exclusive Partnership With Nu-Studio

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

SWIT Ships New Powercell Camera Battery Series

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

Netflix Q4 Earnings Exceed Expectations as Subs Top 325 Million

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

Netflix Presents Our Italian 2026 Slate: The Year of the Stars

Back to All News Netflix Presents Our Italian 2026 Slate: The Year of the Stars (Photo credit: Virginia Bettoja / Netflix) Entertainment 21 January 2026 Gl...

21/01/2026

Largest Infrastructure Buildout In Human History': Jensen Huang on AI's Five-Layer Cake' at Davos

From skilled trades to startups, AI's rapid expansion is the beginning of th...