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. 

Cash Cushion for U.S. Telcos

For the big four telcos in the U.S., net cash from operating activities has been on an upward march, thanks in part to tax reforms.  The operations of America’s top four telcos generated 101 billion dollars in 2019, up from 73 billion dollars in 2017 (after tax and interest payments). Although the COVID-19 crisis is hitting some revenue streams, such as roaming, these figures suggest the U.S. telecoms industry will weather the storm quite well.

Over the past four years, AT&T’s operations have generated by far the most cash of the four big telcos, consistently over 35 billion dollars each year, while Verizon has bounced back strongly on this metric after a weak 2016 and 2017.

Historically, T-Mobile US, which has just merged with Sprint, has struggled to generate large amounts of cash, primarily because it has used low prices to win market share gains. Still,  T-Mobile US generated almost 7 billion dollars from its operations in 2019, up from less than 4 billion dollars in 2018. In the first quarter of 2020, this metric was up 16% year-on-year to 1.6 billion dollars.

Pringle Media has just published a 50 page report tracking and comparing the key financial metrics of the four big U.S. telcos over the past five years: Screen shots of eight sample pages below.

If you would like to purchase a PDF copy of the report, priced at $100 for a company-wide license, please send an email to pringled@btinternet.com

U.S. Telcos Keep Capex in Check

America’s top four telcos are collectively investing significantly more in property, plant and equipment ($48 billion in 2019) than they were in 2010 ($42 billion). But the aggregate capital intensity (excluding spectrum licenses) of the big four is now hovering around 12.5% - much lower than in Europe where the big telcos invest about 17% of revenues.

Since 2017, the collective capital intensity of the U.S. telcos has been slipping, as AT&T has bet big on the entertainment sector. Verizon is now putting pressure on AT&T by upping its capital spending as it vies for supremacy in 5G.

During the past five years, Sprint (now part of T-Mobile US) has been the clear laggard, investing just $20 billion in capex. Even together, T-Mobile US and Sprint are investing just two-thirds of Verizon's capex budget.

Pringle Media has just published a 50 page report tracking and comparing the key financial metrics of the four big U.S. telcos over the past five years: Screen shots of eight sample pages below.

If you would like to purchase a PDF copy of the report, priced at $100 for a company-wide license, please send an email to pringled@btinternet.com