Top 20 global telco updates Q3 2023

Summary

Global telecom operators hit a rough patch in the third quarter of 2023, with the world's twenty largest telcos posting a rare aggregate revenue decline after two consecutive quarters of growth. Yet the picture varies sharply by region: Indian operators continued outperforming global peers, Chinese carriers kept expanding subscriber bases even as growth cooled, and Japanese operators bucked broader softness with gains in personal and business services, while several European and North American incumbents faced tougher comparisons.

EBITDA margins, capital expenditure, and average revenue per user moved in different directions across major operators including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, China Mobile, China Telecom, KDDI, Softbank, Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile, Vodafone, SingTel, Telenor, Ooredoo, and Verizon, as 5G rollout momentum begins to plateau, capex discipline tightens across the industry, and cost-optimisation programmes reshape operating margins at several of the world's largest carriers.

Strategic partnerships also took centre stage during the quarter, with telcos teaming up with vendors like Nokia, Ericsson, and NVIDIA on enterprise solutions, 5G network slicing, satellite-based IoT connectivity, edge computing, data-centre colocation, and network optimisation, signalling where operators expect their next wave of growth to come from as core connectivity revenue plateaus and enterprise digitisation becomes a bigger share of the business.

• Regional revenue divergence across India, China, Japan, Europe, and the US
• EBITDA margin and capital expenditure trends amid the 5G rollout peak
• Key vendor partnerships in enterprise, IoT, and network optimisation