Following a decline in 2020 primarily due to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, mobile services revenue in New Zealand is expected to recover next year. It is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5% between 2020-2025 and reach US$1.8bn supported by growth in both mobile data as well as mobile voice service revenues, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s New Zealand Telecom Operators Country Intelligence Report forecasts that mobile data service revenue will grow at a robust CAGR of 9.9% over the forecast period 2020-2025, driven by continued rise in smartphone subscriptions, growth in consumption of mobile data services and increase in data average revenue per subscriber (ARPS). Mobile voice service revenues on the other hand will increase from US$678.2m in 2020 to US$741.9m in 2025.

Aasif Iqbal, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData, says: “4G services will be the leading mobile technology in New Zealand, with its share of total mobile subscriptions set to grow from 76.2% in 2020 to 79.5% by the end of 2025. This growth is primarily supported by the ongoing 4G network coverage expansion by operators like 2degrees and Vodafone New Zealand. As 5G arrived in the country in 2019, GlobalData expects 5G service subscriptions to account for 11.8% share of the total mobile subscriptions by the end of 2025.

“Vodafone will lead the mobile services market in New Zealand in terms of mobile subscriptions in 2020, followed by Spark. Vodafone will remain the market leader through 2025, supported by its strong focus on M2M/IoT segment and 5G network expansion.”