Telecommunications Network Operators 2024 Market Review: Telco Topline Rebounds But Annualized Capex Dips Below $300B Mark Amid Continued Spending Cuts

Associated Press

10-02-2025

The 'Telecommunications Network Operators: 3Q24 Market Review' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
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%.
Key Topics Covered:
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
Companies Featured
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
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/zkriw
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PUB: 02/10/2025 01:18 PM/DISC: 02/10/2025 01:18 PM