Timely; inflation knocked on the door shortly after
Tefficient’s 34th public analysis on the development and drivers of mobile data ranks 104 operators based on average data usage per SIM, total data traffic and revenue per gigabyte in the full year of 2021 and in the first half of 2022.
In 2021 – a year marked by COVID – the data usage per SIM grew for 97% of operators. The average traffic growth was 32%. A majority of operators, 62%, could turn data usage growth into ARPU growth.
62% of operators could turn data usage growth into ARPU growth
In the first half of 2022, the data usage per SIM grew for 98% of operators. The average annual growth rate in traffic slowed to 27%. But 61% of operators could still turn data usage growth into ARPU growth.
Our famous Christmas tree graphs show how ARPU improved after COVID restrictions were lifted – although usage growth slowed down. In many markets, operators became more rational and started to use their pricing power at the end of 2021.
When the world suddenly faced a quickly rising inflation rate in the spring of 2022, this trend shift became even more important. Operators are lucky to have started the journey towards an improved monetisation of mobile data already before inflation knocked on the door.
Download the analysis: ARPU improved when data usage growth slowed down
Updated 9 September with newly reported 2021 data for Denmark and Q2 2022 data for Lithuania
This analysis is sponsored by DNA