It’s no secret that more and more telecoms firms have been looking to emerging markets as the frontier for growth. But what will be the market drivers in 2014 as companies look to expand? What trends will the industry’s savvy players look to exploit? Here are 10 trends for 2014 to watch out for.

1. Demand for data in emerging markets will become an ever more important part of revenues, and drive operator investment in infrastructure.

Latin America has seen a year-on-year growth of 16.8 per cent in data subscribers, and Africa has surpassed that growth rate with an increase of 36.4 per cent year-on-year. This represents an excellent opportunity for operators to expand into digital and offer more services for 21st century lifestyles in emerging markets, where many consumers access the internet for the first time from their mobile phones. Internet access through feature phones is also allowing millions to have access to the web. But it also means operators will need to increase investment in upgrading to 3G and 4G networks in emerging markets to cope with the increase in traffic and speed requirements.