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Hong Kong, North America & UAE world’s most connected countries

Hong Kong and North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) hold steady as having the world’s top two most highly connected populations, according to the GfK Connected Consumer Index ranking for the last two years. However, people in the United Arab Emirates are fast closing in on that lead, jumping from eighth place in 2015 to a forecasted third place this year. Similarly, Switzerland has overtaken Denmark and Sweden to move up from tenth place last year to a forecasted eighth place this year.

Kevin Walsh, Director of Trends and Forecasting at GfK said that, "We are seeing some macro trend increases in connectivity across all countries. For high growth markets, especially across the Middle East, Africa and emerging APAC, the dominant trend remains smartphone adoption. This is the primary device - and often the first device - for consumers to connect to data services. This trend is likely to remain dominant for the next two to three years as price reductions mean that over one billion consumers will be able to afford to connect with a personal device for the first time. For developed markets, primarily Western Europe and North America, the growth drivers have already moved to the next wave of consumer connectivity. Wearables are leading the way, together with connected cars – and both these are providing new consumer benefits. Smart home technology is an equally significant opportunity, but expected to be slower and steadier in terms of the consumer adoption curve."

Other countries that the Index reveals as having made a significant leap forward in the past year, in terms of the connectivity of their populations, are Chile and Jordan. Chile for example, despite having a weaker economy, has a relatively favorable regulatory environment for investment, as well as high broadband penetration compared to the rest of Latin America. This is driven mainly by Smart TV sales as it increased by over 20 percent last year, and GfK forecasts further growth of another 12 percent this year.



Source: http://www.thefastmode.com/mobile-data-services-trends/8163-hong-kong-north-america-uae-world-s-most-connected-countries-says-gfk

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