Not all telcos have reported, but a large sample (of 60 companies) has spent US$50.2B on capex in 3Q17. That’s up 4% year-over-year (YoY), after adjustments for acquisitions. A 4% growth rate for telco capex is relatively high by recent standard...read more
Faced with tough competition and high debt, Indian telecom operators are spinning off their tower assets to investors or independent tower companies to improve their financial situation. The 2016 sale of Tata Teleservices’ tower business (Vio...read more
Fidelity’s “Communications Equipment” index is up nearly 11% so far this year, tracking just a few points behind the S&P 500’s YTD gain of about 15%. Looking ahead, though, the communications equipment sector remains challenged, something...read more
If you’re looking for a capex bump in the telecom sector, results for 3Q17 so far won’t reassure you. The vendors that have reported are not seeing much growth. For six vendors (or divisions) with high exposure to telecom, annualized revenues ...read more
Cisco Systems is one of the largest suppliers to network operators worldwide, including telcos. Its growth strategy from the start has been reliant heavily on acquisitions, and 2017 has been no exception. Today the vendor announced it would buy G...read more
The first sizable telcos reported 3Q17 earnings this morning: Verizon and Rogers. Both can point to reassuring bottom line results. For the 9 months ended September, operating & net margins improved year-over-year, as did earnings per share. Roge...read more
October’s seen a few mergers already, including Airtel-TTSL, a tower sale by Zain and the long-rumored Sprint-T-Mobile transaction (confirmed yesterday). Some interesting deals came out of 3Q17 too, especially in infrastructure markets. 63 M&...read more
Incumbent telcos in markets like the US have built their networks gradually, over many decades. In the access plant, the trend towards more fiber began in the 1990s – but applications, products, and overall economics have come together just in the ...read more
Reliance Communications’ (RCom) long-planned merger with Aircel, part of Maxis, fell apart last week in the face of legal and regulatory hurdles. This news comes as multiple operators in India are struggling with debt and declining margins. Both...read more
Barracuda Networks, a security/data protection solution vendor, yesterday reported $94.3M in revenues for the quarter ended August (~3Q17). That’s 7% growth from the prior year (June-August 2016). This growth rate would satisfy many companies, in...read more