IDC Projects 1.4% Growth in 2022 Global Telecom Spending

Global spending on telecom and pay TV services reached $1.566 trillion in 2021, increasing 1.6% year over year, reported IDC Friday. IDC expects spending to rise another 1.4% in 2022 to $1.588 trillion, it said. The “quick recovery” of the global economy from the slump caused by COVID-19 “resulted in additional spending growth” on telecom services, “so the total value of the worldwide market increased slightly faster than originally forecast,” said IDC. The higher than expected growth was also recorded in all technology segments except for pay TV, “which is logical because people were able to spend more time outside of their homes and therefore some decided to cancel subscriptions to TV packages acquired during the lockdowns,” it said. Spending growth last year was highest in Asia Pacific (rising 2.1%), lowest in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (up 1.1%), with the Americas in between (up 1.5%), said IDC.