Telco Topline Rebounds But Annualized Capex Dips Below $300B Mark Amid Continued Spending Cuts
This report reviews the growth and development of the telecommunications network operator (TNO, or telco) market. The report tracks a wide range of financial stats for 140 telcos across the globe, from 1Q11 through 3Q24. For the annualized 3Q24 period, telcos represented $1.77 trillion (T) in revenues (0.1% growth YoY), $262.4 billion (B) in labor costs (0.8% YoY), and $294.6B in capex (-7.7% YoY). They employed approximately 4.45 million people as of September 2024, down 1.5% from the prior year.
Below are a few highlights from the report:
Revenues: Telco topline grew slightly by 0.8% on a YoY basis to post $441.4 B in the latest single quarter ending 3Q24. Revenues for the annualized 3Q24 period were $1,770.6B, up 0.1% YoY over the same period in the previous year. At the operator level, five of the top 20 telcos by topline growth in 3Q24 on an annualized basis include Airtel (4.6%), America Movil (4.3%), STC (Saudi Telecom) (4.2%), Deutsche Telekom (3.3%), and BT (2.5%). By the same criteria, the worst telco growth came from Vodafone (-6.8%), KDDI (-5.7%), NTT (-5.0%), SoftBank (-3.6%), and BCE (-1.6%) during the same period. Note that exchange rate volatility was NOT a major factor in 3Q24, as most major currencies were relatively stable versus 3Q23 levels.
Capex: Capex spending declined by 6.1% on a YoY basis to post $71.1B in the latest single quarter ending September 2024. Capex for the annualized 3Q24 period was $294.6B, down 7.7% YoY over the same period in the previous year. At the operator level, five of the top 20 telcos by capex growth in 3Q24 on an annualized basis include BSNL (300.6%), Telstra (52.3%), BT (4.8%), NTT (3.0%), and China Mobile (1.9%). By the same criteria, the worst capex growth came from Reliance Jio (-27.4%), Verizon (-22.5%), Vodafone (-20.0%), Deutsche Telekom (-18.1%), and KDDI (-16.3%) during the same period.
Opex and labor costs: Total opex for the telecom industry in the annualized 3Q24 period stood at $1,507.9B, a slight increase of 0.9% over the same period in the previous year. Excluding depreciation and amortization (D&A) costs, opex increased by 1.7% on YoY basis to record $1,179.4B in the annualized 3Q24 period. One significant element of telco opex is labor costs, which include salaries, wages, bonuses, benefits, and retirement/severance costs. Labor costs grew by 0.8% YoY in the annualized 3Q24 period, while labor costs as a percentage of opex (ex-D&A) was 22.2% in the same period.
Profitability margins: Both EBITDA and EBIT margins showed a slight decline in annualized 3Q24 compared to 3Q23. The annualized EBIT margin dipped from 15.5% in 3Q23 to 14.8% in 3Q24, while the EBITDA margin for the annualized 3Q24 period stood at 33.4%, down from 34.5% in annualized 3Q23.
Regional trends: The Americas retained its position as the largest revenue-generating region in 3Q24, contributing 37.2% of global telco revenues, closely followed by Asia with a 36.4% share. On a capex basis though, Asia emerged as the top spender, claiming 38.2% of global capex and outpacing the Americas; this is a change from 3Q22 and 3Q23, when Americas ranked #1 on the back of 5G spending by AT&T and Verizon. Europe retained the highest annualized capital intensity, reaching 17.8% in 3Q24, followed by MEA at 17.0%.
Table of Contents
- Report Highlights
- Summary
- Market snapshot
- Analysis
- Key stats through 3Q24
- Labor stats
- Operator rankings
- Company Deepdive & Benchmarking
- Country breakouts
- Country breakouts by company
- Regional breakouts
- Raw Data
- Subs & traffic
- Exchange rates
- Methodology & Scope
- About
List of Figures and Charts
- TNO market size & growth by: Revenues, Capex, Employees - 1Q19-3Q24
- Regional trends by: Revenues, Capex - 1Q19-3Q24
- Opex & Cost trends
- Labor cost trends: 1Q20-3Q24
- Profitability margin trends: 1Q20-3Q24
- Spending (opex, labor costs, capex): annual and quarterly trend
- Key ratios: annual and quarterly trend
- Workforce & productivity trends: 1Q14-3Q24
- Operator rankings by revenue and capex: latest single-quarter and annualized periods
- Top 20 TNOs by capital intensity: latest single-quarter and annualized periods
- Top 20 TNOs by employee base: latest single-quarter
- TNOs: YoY growth in single quarter revenues
- TNOs: Annualized capital intensity, 1Q16-3Q24
- TNOs: Revenue and RPE, annualized 1Q16-3Q24
- TNOs: Capex and capital intensity (annualized), 1Q16-3Q24
- TNOs: Total headcount trends, 1Q16-2Q24
- TNOs: Revenue and RPE trends, 2011-23
- TNOs: Capex and capital intensity, 2011-23 ($ Mn)
- TNOs: Capex and capital intensity, 1Q16-3Q24 ($ Mn)
- TNOs: Revenue and RPE trends, 1Q16-3Q24
- TNOs by total opex, 3Q24
- TNOs by labor costs, 3Q24
- TNOs: Software as % of total capex
- TNOs: Software & spectrum spend
- TNOs: Total M&A, spectrum and capex (excl. spectrum)
- TNOs by total debt: 2011-23
- TNOs by total net debt: 2011-23
- TNOs by long term debt: 2011-23
- TNOs by short term debt: 2011-23
- TNOs by total cash and short term investments ($M): 2011-23
Companies Mentioned
- A1 Telekom Austria
- Advanced Info Service (AIS)
- Airtel
- Altice Europe
- Altice USA
- America Movil
- AT&T
- Axiata
- Axtel
- Batelco
- BCE
- Bezeq Israel
- Bouygues Telecom
- BSNL
- BT
- Cable ONE, Inc.
- Cablevision
- Cell C
- Cellcom Israel
- CenturyLink
- Cequel Communications
- Charter Communications
- China Broadcasting Network
- China Mobile
- China Telecom
- China Unicom
- Chunghwa Telecom
- Cincinatti Bell
- CK Hutchison
- Clearwire
- Cogeco
- Com Hem Holding AB
- Comcast
- Consolidated Communications
- Cyfrowy Polsat
- DEN Networks Limited
- Deutsche Telekom
- Digi Communications
- DirecTV
- Dish Network
- Dish TV India Limited
- DNA Ltd.
- Du
- EE
- Elisa
- Entel
- Etisalat
- Fairpoint Communications
- Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Ltd.
- Frontier Communications
- Globe Telecom
- Grupo Clarin
- Grupo Televisa
- Hathway Cable & Datacom Limited
- Idea Cellular Limited
- Iliad SA
- KDDI
- KPN
- KT
- Leap Wireless
- LG Uplus
- Liberty Global
- M1
- Manitoba Telecom Services
- Maroc Telecom
- Masmovil Masorange
- Maxis Berhad
- Megafon
- MetroPCS Communications
- Millicom
- Mobile Telesystems
- MTN Group
- MTNL
- NTT
- Oi
- Omantel
- Ono
- Ooredoo
- Orange
- PCCW
- PLDT
- Proximus
- Quebecor Telecommunications
- Rakuten
- Reliance Communications Limited
- Reliance Jio
- Rogers
- Rostelecom
- Safaricom Limited
- Sasktel
- Shaw
- Singtel
- SITI Networks Limited
- SK Telecom
- Sky plc
- SmarTone
- SoftBank
- Spark New Zealand Limited
- Sprint
- StarHub
- STC (Saudi Telecom)
- SureWest Communications
- Swisscom
- Taiwan Mobile
- Tata Communications
- Tata Teleservices
- TDC
- TDS
- Tele2 AB
- Telecom Argentina
- Telecom Egypt
- Telecom Italia
- Telefonica
- Telekom Malaysia Berhad
- Telenor
- Telia
- Telkom Indonesia
- Telkom SA
- Telstra
- Telus
- Thaicom
- Time Warner
- Time Warner Cable
- TPG Telecom Limited
- True Corp
- Turk Telekom
- Turkcell
- Veon
- Verizon
- Virgin Media
- Vivendi
- Vodafone
- Vodafone Idea Limited
- VodafoneZiggo
- Wind Tre
- Windstream
- Zain
- Zain KSA
- Ziggo
