Chinese 5G Demand Lifts Ericsson

Ericsson reported a 7% year-on-year increase in revenues for the third quarter of 2020 on a like-for-like basis to 57.5 billion Swedish krona (6.6 billion U.S. dollars). The rise was mainly driven by sales of 5G network equipment in mainland China, Ericsson said.  Overall network revenues rose 13% on a like-for-like basis.

The results reflect "high activity levels in North East Asia and North America," said Börje Ekholm, CEO of Ericsson. "Underlying business fundamentals remain strong in North America driven by consolidation in the U.S. operator market, pending spectrum auctions, and increased demand for 5G. The 5G contracts in mainland China have developed according to plan, contributing positively to profits in Q3 and are expected to improve further. Our business in Europe grew based on several footprint gains. While the pandemic has hurt revenues for several of our customers, and in some cases this has led to a reduction of capex, we have not seen any negative impact on our business, largely due to footprint gains. However, the pandemic negatively impacted our sales in Latin America and Africa." source: Ericsson statement

Netflix Closes in on 200 Million Members

Netflix forecast that its revenues will rise 20% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 6.57 billion U.S. dollars, following a rise of almost 23% in the third quarter. The rate of growth is markedly slower than a year earlier - revenues rose by over 30% in the second half of 2019.  Still, by the end of 2020, Netflix expects to be serving more than 200 million paying members. Source: Netflix statement

China Dominates Global 5G Market

Source: Canalys press release

Deutsche Telekom Almost Flat

Excluding the acquisition of Sprint and adjusted for exchange rate effects, Deutsche Telekom reported a 0.1% rise in revenue for the first half of 2020. The group said revenue was flat in the U.S., rose 1% in Germany and was stable elsewhere in Europe. However, revenue in the Systems Solutions division fell 2.1%

As of mid-July, DT's 5G network, with around 30,000 antennas, covered 40 million people across Germany, the group said, adding that T-Mobile US' 5G network now covers over one million square miles, including 7,500 towns and cities, and 250 million people.

DT also said its LTE network now covers over 98% of all households in Germany, "but ensuring full coverage along transportation routes is proving a challenge for all of the network operators." A total of 850 LTE sites have either been built from scratch or upgraded with LTE antennas since the start of 2020, the operator noted. source: Deutsche Telekom statement

IPad Sales Lift Apple

Apple reported a 11% year-on-year rise in revenue for the quarter ending June 27th to 59.7 billion US dollars. Although iPhone sales grew just 2%, services sales were up 15% and iPad sales leapt 31%. Source: Apple statement

Amazon Sees Extraordinary Growth

Amazon reported a 41% year-on-year increase in sales on a constant currency basis to 88.9 billion US dollars for the second quarter.  One year ago the top line was growing at 20%. Sales in North America rose 43%, while sales at Amazon Web Services climbed 29%. 

Amazon said it expects sales in the third quarter to grow between 24% and 33% to between 87 billion and 93 billion dollars, after an unfavourable impact of approximately 20 basis points from foreign exchange rates. source: Amazon statement

Orange Suffers Slight Sales Fall

 

Source: Orange presentation

Bharti Airtel Reports Remarkable Growth

Bharti Airtel reported a 18% year-on-year increase in revenues on an underlying basis for the quarter ending March 31. For the year to March 31, revenues were up almost 11% to 875 billion Indian rupees (11.56 billion US dollars). In India, mobile revenues rose 22% in the quarter led by an increase in the operator's 4G customer base coupled with improved tariffs. Airtel said that mobile ARPU for the quarter was 154 rupees (2.04 dollars) up from 123 rupees a year earlier, underlining that the disruptive price wars in India's telecoms sector are now over. Source: Airtel statements.