Recesssion - telecom service providers reduced their capital expenditures 5.9% worldwide in 2009, having learned that lessons from telecoms crash

[marketwire] Market research firm Infonetics Research released the first edition of its 2010 biannual Service Provider Capex, Opex, ARPU, and Subscribers report, which features analysis on how current economic conditions are impacting telecom markets by region and equipment segment.

"As world economies climbed out of recession, telecom service providers reduced their capital expenditures 5.9% worldwide in 2009, in line with our predictions and much less than many had expected. Carrier capex didn't tank like it did in 2001 for two main reasons: service providers are operating with clean balance sheets, having learned that lesson from the great telecom crash, and the demand for broadband today is very real indeed. Now, don't declare victory yet, as we forecast worldwide carrier capex to decline again and bottom out in 2010, followed by a new investment cycle starting in 2011 driven by a wave of 2G upgrades, 3G and LTE rollouts, and fiber-based wireline broadband initiatives around the globe," predicts Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure at Infonetics Research.

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

* Worldwide, service providers spent US$295 billion in 2009 on telecom and non-telecom capital expenditure projects, 5.9% less than they spent in 2008
* Carriers reduced investment in network infrastructure by 8% in 2009, with the deepest cuts in IP voice infrastructure, optical network equipment, video infrastructure, and IP routers
* Mobile infrastructure spending continues to make up the largest portion of all network infrastructure investments made by service providers, making up about 19%
* Worldwide, service providers took in US$1.65 trillion in revenue in 2009, a decrease of 4.2% from 2008
* Carrier revenue is expected to resume growth in 2010
* The world's 10 largest service providers (ranked in order by 2009 revenue in US dollars) are AT&T, NTT, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile, France Télécom, Vodafone, Telefónica, KDDI, and Comcast

Infonetics Research: Telecom carriers weathering storm better than many expected: capex down 5.9% in 2009