Emerging Markets Still Profitable for Telecom Operators Worldwide

Added by on September 14, 2010

According to a recent report published by Analysys Mason entitled ‘Worldwide telecoms market share report 2009’, the majority of the biggest telecoms in the world still have emerging markets as a source of profit.

The report evaluated both the operational and financial performances for over 100 telecom operators from all over the globe.
Author of the report, Roz Roseboro, stated that in 2009 the emerging markets’ revenue growth rose faster than that of mature markets and that numerous important telecom operators opened to emerging markets worldwide had higher EBITDA margins then their competitors that did not have that sort of exposure.
The five top operators by both revenue and EBITDA margin and that had exposure to emerging markets were China Mobile, Teléfonica, Vodafone, Telecom Italia and France Telecom. Also, emerging markets also had a higher GDP growth in 2009, thus the consumers also had the means to pay for telecom services. ‘Industry watchers should consider exposure to growth markets when evaluating the growth potential of large, Tier 1 operators. We expect mature markets to remain challenging, so operators will be well-served to have a position in dynamic growth markets,’ Ms. Roseboro said.
The report also showed that a strong growth was recorded in mobile broadband revenue for operators in mature markets and that the level of competition, together with telecom services availability, has been increasing due to strong licensing activity that has brought new entrants to growth markets.