Digital Lifescapes

The total number of roaming connections is anticipated to grow 350 percent over the next five years, with the growing presence of 5G and IoT roaming devices being major driving factors. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research , growth in global roaming clearing revenues will reach $2.5 billion in 2024. This 30 percent increase will be driven by the rise in 5G roaming connections as mobile service providers continue 5G network expansion. 5G Roaming Market Development For network operators and clearing houses to capitalize on this opportunity, Juniper says they must focus on implementing new technologies and new growth strategies. A major trend is the growth in Internet of Things (IoT) roaming devices, anticipated to reach 595 million globally by 2028. While this brings opportunities, mobile operators see limited revenue per Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) connection. Clearing houses can help by providing highly scalable cloud-based services to handle increasing dat...

Across the globe, government regulators are eager to contain the influence of Big Tech for a number of reasons that pose a significant threat to democracy and the security of a civil society. These include concerns about the companies' market power, their ability to stifle competition, their impact on privacy and data protection, and their role in spreading misinformation.  Regulators are also concerned about the power that Big Tech companies have over their citizens' lives, as they control the information we see and the way we interact with the online economy. Big Tech Global Market Development Over the next few years, regulators will crackdown on some of the world’s biggest tech companies -- including Amazon, Google, Meta, X (Twitter), Alibaba, and Tencent -- according to the latest worldwide market study by GlobalData. The insightful GlobalData survey findings predict that regulators will pursue the most influential Big Tech companies in 12 key regulatory arenas. Those inclu...

Compliance with IT security and data privacy regulation is of growing concern to most European organizations. Businesses large and small are scrambling to assess their General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) readiness, with less than a year to go until its implementation on 25 May, 2018. GDPR is a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU). The new framework demands a reassessment of the everyday operational structure for businesses that handle personal data in the EU. The aim of the GDPR is to protect all EU citizens from privacy and data breaches in an increasingly data-driven world that is vastly different from the time in which the 1995 directive was established. Although the key principles of data privacy still hold true to the previous directive, many changes have been proposed to the regulatory policies. Penalti...

Technology industry analysts have shared their initial view on the impact from the political and social unrest that's sweeping across Europe. In particular, concerns about the outcome of the United Kingdom (UK) European Union (EU) membership referendum has added to the region's volatility. After 7 percent growth in 2015, European technology spending will remain flat at €707 billion this year and grow by just 0.8 percent next year, according to the Forrester Research midyear forecast. Business and political uncertainties after the decision by UK citizens to leave the European Union (Brexit) on top of already slow economic growth have led Forrester to reduce its original projection for EU tech market growth for 2016 and 2017 by about 2 percent. At a country level, UK tech spending will see the sharpest slowdown, growing by just 1.3 percent in pounds in 2016, with no growth in 2017 -- representing a drop of 4.2 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively, compared with Forrester’...

The European mobile retail audience grew by 43 percent over the past year, with 20 percent of smartphone users accessing online retail sites and apps using their device, according to the latest market study by comScore . The study included mobile phone usage characteristics across the five leading EU markets -- France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Mobile online retail adoption is on the upswing -- 1 in 7 European smartphone users reported having completed a retail transaction on their mobile phone in a month. In the three month average ending August 2013, 20.4 percent of the EU5 smartphone audience accessed online retail sites, displaying an increase of 2.8 percentage points in the past year. Spain was the fastest growing market with a growth rate of 66.5 percent to almost 3.3 million smartphone users accessing retail sites on their mobile. Italy ranked second with a growth rate of 61.3 percent to almost 5.6 million smartphone users accessing those sites on th...