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Telecommunications Network Operators: 4Q23 Market Review

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    Report

  • April 2024
  • Region: Global
  • MTN Consulting, LLC
  • ID: 5952039

European Telcos and China Mobile Steer Revenue Uptick, as Capex Downtrend Persists; Industry Headcount Drops to 4.5 Million

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 139 telcos across the globe, from 1Q11 through 4Q23. For the full-year 2023, telcos represented $1.77 trillion (T) in revenues (-0.7% YoY), $263.1 billion (B) in labor costs (3.0% YoY), and $315.1B in capex (-3.6% YoY). They employed approximately 4.50 million people as of December 2023, down 1.5% from the prior year.

Key highlights of the report:

Revenues: Telco topline posted a modest growth of 1.7% on a YoY basis to post $445.3 billion (B) in the latest single quarter ending 4Q23. Revenues for the full-year 2023 were $1,775.8B, down 0.7% YoY over the previous year. In the latest quarter, YoY growth in equipment revenues surpassed service revenues, mainly due to the strong year-end device sales by major telcos such as China Mobile, AT&T, and Deutsche Telekom. At the operator level, five of the top 20 best performing telcos by topline growth for the full year 2023 include America Movil (7.7%), STC (Saudi Telecom) (7.3%), Airtel (5.0%), Telefonica (4.5%), and Orange (4.3%). By the same criteria, the worst telco growth came from AT&T (5.2%), KDDI (-4.6%), SoftBank (-3.5%), NTT (-3.3%), and Verizon (-2.1%) during the same period.

Capex: Capex spending declined by 4.1% on a YoY basis to post $85.9B in the latest single quarter ending 4Q23. Capex for the full-year 2023 was $315.1B, down 3.6% YoY over the previous year. At the operator level, five of the top 20 best performing telcos by capex growth for the full year 2023 include Airtel (34.3%), Comcast (25.5%), Charter Communications (18.5%), KDDI (13.1%), and Telefonica (9.9%). By the same criteria, the worst capex growth came from SoftBank (-20.5%), Verizon (-18.7%), Deutsche Telekom (-18.7%), BT (-15.3%), and Reliance Jio (-10.8%) during the same period. Capital intensity is off the peak: it was 17.7% in 2023, from 18.3% the year prior.

Opex and labor costs: Total opex for the telecom industry in the year 2023 stood at $1,504.8B, a decrease of 1.5% over 2022. Excluding depreciation and amortization (D&A) costs, total opex declined by 1.1% on a YoY basis to record $1,169.5B in the year 2023. One significant element of telco opex is labor costs, which include salaries, wages, bonuses, benefits, and retirement/severance costs. Labor costs grew by 3.0% YoY in 2023, pushing labor costs as a percentage of opex (excluding D&A) up from 21.6% in 2022 to 22.5% in 2023.

Profitability margins: Both EBITDA and EBIT margins witnessed a slight improvement in the year 2023 when compared to 2022 - EBIT margin grew from 14.6% in 2022 to 15.3% in 2023, while EBITDA (operating) margin ended 2023 at 34.1%, as compared to 33.9% in the previous year.

Regional trends: The Americas region managed to sustain its dominance in 4Q23, with 38.0% global share of the total telco market revenues. On a capex basis though, the Asia region finally surpassed the Americas region with 39.6% of the global share in the latest quarter. Europe maintained its lead in the latest quarter as the region with the highest annualized capital intensity, reaching 18.7% in 4Q23.

Table of Contents

  • Report Highlights
  • Summary
  • Market snapshot
  • Analysis
  • Key stats through 4Q23
  • Labor stats
  • Operator rankings
  • Company Deep-dive & Benchmarking
  • Country breakouts
  • Country breakouts by company
  • Regional breakouts
  • Raw Data
  • Subs & traffic
  • Exchange rates
  • Methodology & Scope
  • About the Publisher

List of Figures

  • TNO market size & growth by: Revenues, Capex, Employees - 1Q19-4Q23
  • Regional trends by: Revenues, Capex - 1Q19-4Q23
  • Opex & Cost trends
  • Labor cost trends: 1Q20-4Q23
  • Profitability margin trends: 1Q20-4Q23
  • Spending (opex, labor costs, capex): annual and quarterly trend
  • Key ratios: annual and quarterly trend
  • Workforce & productivity trends: 1Q14-4Q23
  • 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, 1Q16-4Q23
  • TNOs: Revenue and RPE, annualized 1Q16-4Q23
  • TNOs: Capex and capital intensity (annualized), 1Q16-4Q23
  • TNOs: Total headcount trends, 1Q16-4Q23
  • TNOs: Revenue and RPE trends, 2011-23
  • TNOs: Capex and capital intensity, 2011-23 ($ Mn)
  • TNOs: Capex and capital intensity, 1Q16-4Q23 ($ Mn)
  • TNOs: Revenue and RPE trends, 1Q16-4Q23
  • Top 79 TNOs by total opex, 4Q23
  • Top 79 TNOs by labor costs, 4Q23
  • TNOs: Software as % of total capex
  • TNOs: Software & spectrum spend
  • TNOs: Total M&A, spectrum and capex (excl. spectrum)
  • Top 79 TNOs by total debt: 2011-23
  • Top 79 TNOs by total net debt: 2011-23
  • Top 79 TNOs by long term debt: 2011-23
  • Top 79 TNOs by short term debt: 2011-23
  • Top 79 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
  • 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