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March 14, 2019Huawei and UK 5G: Identifying the risks
Market Outlook, ReportsGovernments and operators have come under increasing pressure to exclude Huawei’s 5G equipment from national networks, with justifications usually kept vague and wide-ranging rather than specific, and no evidence provided. Given the role of Huawei’s 5G equipment in the network and the extent of existing testing and checking, realistic security risks that apply to Huawei and not to all other equipment suppliers are hard to conceive. The risks of any ban are however very real; with Huawei one of only three global-scale telecoms equipment suppliers, and the preferred early choice for 5G radio equipment in the UK, removing this choice will massively increase costs and delay roll-outs of cutting-edge connectivity.Sector Telecom. -
March 4, 2019
O2 UK delivering well on many, but not all, fronts
Flash Report, ReportsO2’s Q4 results delivered market-leading service revenue growth of 3%, double-digit EBITDA growth, sustained strong net adds and low churn. With ARPU service revenue growth flat, all of the growth came from other service revenue including M2M (machine-to-machine) and MVNO; a lumpy category up by more than 40%. Following a period of strong outperformance, O2 will face some challenges in 2019: some cost inflation to mitigate and the risk of a churn increase following December’s outage although experience suggests this is likely to be short-lived.Sector Telecom. -
March 4, 2019MWC – all very exciting but where’s the money?
Flash Report, ReportsThe combination of 5G, AI, IoT and big data were evangelised at MWC as generating massive scope for the transformation of multiple industries. That much is probably true, but it is the tech and consultancy companies who will likely receive the benefits, with connectivity revenue likely to be modest. For the operators, 5G brings more capacity much needed for hungry smartphone users, and perhaps the opportunity to transform themselves into a leaner operating model. -
March 1, 2019Vocus 1H19 earnings update: Losses in both Consumer and Business
Flash Report, ReportsOn 27th February Vocus announced its 1H19 earnings. Revenue increased slightly but EBITDA and profits remain on a downward trend. Consumer and business segments saw large declines in revenue and SIOs. In a year of “resetting”, Vocus faces the difficult challenge of extracting value out of its fibre assets through enterprise projects and transforming its Consumer segment with a renewed focus on mobile and wireless.Sector Telecom. -
February 22, 2019BT Global Services: Playing a bad hand as well as it can
Flash Report, ReportsBTGS’s strategic plan seems like a sensible move in a very challenging market but it heralds its transition to a new operating model where its competitive advantage is largely eroded, its addressable market squeezed and it is arguably sub-scale. Although hybrid infrastructure and revenues from transition to cloud-based IT will provide something of a cushion, guidance and consensus forecasts are too optimistic in our view – cost-cutting plans are therefore likely deficient. Longer term, with IT services increasingly easy for corporates to manage themselves, diminished appetite for hybrid networks and global giants such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google squeezing out the middle-man, the space that BTGS occupies is likely to be considerably smaller. -
February 21, 2019
BT Q3 2018/19 results: Openreach stronger than it looks, but Cons [...]
Flash Report, ReportsBT’s Q3 results were a little mixed, with mobile particularly weak, but the company remains on track to meet/exceed its (fairly conservative) guidance for the current year, and hit (modest) consensus expectations for 2019/20. Openreach was very weak at the headline level (-9%), but stripping out an accounting effect and internal revenue the division grew by 2% by our estimates despite significant price cuts, and full fibre roll-out is progressing well. While Openreach should accelerate this year, Consumer will be hit by a price rise holiday and slowing mobile, with investors likely having to wait for existing sports rights contracts to play out to see significant profitability improvement. -
February 20, 2019Monthly Australian TMT Wrap: January 2019
Monthly wrap, ReportsJanuary was a rather quiet month in the Australian M&A space, with the ELMO Software/ BoxSuite’s binding sale agreement as the only major transaction. The launch of 5G networks in Australia continues with the results of the 3.6GHz spectrum auctions, though TPG will scale down its deployment due to the Huawei equipment ban. -
February 20, 2019Australian Telco Breakfast Roundtable: Five key discussion topics [...]
Flash Report, ReportsBackground- On 19 February 2018, Venture Insights conducted a telco industry breakfast roundtable (in Melbourne and Sydney) to discuss the following five key topics for 2019. The consensus view was that these topics are both inter-related and very dependent on government decisions and future policy. In that regard, Australia is seen as unique to the extent to which government policy has determined market structure in the telco industry.
- Will 5G leadership lead to market share gain and ARPU increases?
- Will 2019 be the year of take-off for fixed wireless broadband substitution?
- Will there be consolidation in the IoT market in 2019?
- Will the Government announce its NBN sale strategy in 2019?
- What will be the outcome of the proposed TPG – VHA merger?
Sector Telecom. -
February 18, 2019Telstra and Optus – nbn pain, falling ARPUs and the fight for 5 [...]
Flash Report, ReportsOn 14th February 2019 Optus and Telstra announced their latest earnings. Both revenue and earnings remained subdued as subscriber growth was offset by a slowdown in NBN migration payments, and continuing pressure on mobile ARPUs. 5G and Fixed Wireless remain key growth areas going forward.Sector Telecom. -
February 12, 2019Wobbles ahead for TalkTalk’s fine balancing act
Flash Report, ReportsTalkTalk is delivering on its subscriber and revenue growth targets but is straining to get there. Price rises such as a £4 ‘TV access fee’ look increasingly risky. Whilst migrating to discounted high-speed helps to deliver top-line growth, margins are c. 40% lower; an unwelcome dent to already negative cashflow and stressed leverage. Both TalkTalk’s focus on revenue growth in a tight market and fibre rollout plans look increasingly unaffordable; a more modest ambition of stable revenues might allow a healthier business model to unfold.Sector Telecom. -
February 7, 2019
TPGs merger strategy must focus on potential merger undertakings [...]
Flash Report, ReportsThe ACCC has extended its decision time for the proposed TPG-VHA merger and has raised preliminary concerns that it will lead to a substantial lessening of competition. TPG has announced that it has ceased the rollout of its mobile network. Our report looks at the likelihood of whether the TPG/VHA merger will be approved given the potential no-merger test options which the ACCC could consider.Sector Telecom. -
February 6, 2019New Zealand Mobile Market Outlook
Market Outlook, ReportsThe New Zealand mobile market had been traditionally characterised as an oligopoly that is dominated by the prepaid segment with high prices, lack of product differentiation and low usage. However, this market is about to see a rise in competitive intensity driven by 2degrees’ move to gain share in the lucrative postpaid and business mobile segments. We believe Vodafone NZ is most at risk and could lose approximately 3% of its subscriber market share by 2022. The emergence of utility companies offering mobile products will also increase competition and create more “sticky” consumers. We forecast the mobile market will remain the largest segment in the telco market with NZ$3.2bn revenue by 2022. -
February 4, 2019Sky UK Q4 2018 results: accelerating growth
Flash Report, ReportsSky’s revenue growth under Comcast appears to have accelerated since it last reported as an independent company, largely driven by sports rights expansion in Italy, which also drove bumper subscriber growth in Q3 2018. Sky UK likely enjoyed a steadier performance, helped by accelerating high speed adoption, a price rise in April, increased international sales, and improving premium channel adoption on third-party platforms. Comcast expects continued acceleration into 2019, with profitability taking a hit from increased sports rights in Italy in H1, but this is more than compensated for by reduced English Premier League rights costs in H2. -
January 31, 2019Grappling for green shoots at Vodafone UK
Flash Report, ReportsVodafone’s revenue trends took another step backwards this quarter (down almost 3% on our estimates) with its strongest markets (UK and Germany) weakening unexpectedly. The reiteration of their financial guidance and commitment to cost-reduction provides some reassurance although nothing in the results provides grounds for optimism; churn is not really falling and is not correlated to convergence. With the UK mobile market delivering its strongest growth in 7 years last quarter, these results may be a precursor for a more challenging outlook with Vodafone citing pressure from business pricing and out-of-bundle limits, and the outlook for RPI-linked price increases diminishing.Sector Telecom. -
January 30, 2019Netcomm Wireless: From modems to m2m to fixed wireless and 5G
Flash Report, ReportsIn the past six years, NetComm Wireless has transformed itself from internet modem manufacturer to a leading telco equipment supplier in a range of complex wireless and fixed line technologies to Tier 1 telcos across the world. With 5G just around the corner, NetComm is investing heavily to leverage its experience in fixed wireless and position itself as a leading supplier of fixed wireless technology to major telcos across the world.Sector Telecom. -
January 30, 2019TPG’s mobile announcement will shift focus to the ongoing compe [...]
Flash Report, ReportsTPGs decision to cease its mobile rollout reduces the prospects for a 4th mobile operator in Australia. The MVNO market is highly competitive in metro regions and looks set to become stronger. We expect the ACCC to turn its focus on the ongoing competitiveness of the MVNO market.Sector Telecom. -
January 22, 2019New Zealand Telco Market Outlook
Market Outlook, ReportsWe expect the overall retail telco market to remain flat (2018-2022 CAGR 0.0%) with mobile growth driven by a move to post-paid plans and 4G/5G to offset the structural decline in fixed voice. Total retail revenues will reach NZ$5.4bn in 2022. With UFB deployment well on track and increasing 4G penetration, we expect a rise in competitive intensity as players look to capture share across a broader set of product offerings. Fixed voice continues its structural decline as subscribers shun the landline and migrate away from standalone fixed voice services to mobile bundles and broadband + VOIP bundles. The UFB rollout is on track to reach 80% of the population by the end of 2019 and has been recently extended by the Government to cover up to 87% of the population by 2022. The NZ Government recently announced a set of reforms including a move towards utility-style regulation, copper deregulation in areas where UFB is available, and increased oversight over quality and reliability of broadband services.Sector Telecom. -
January 10, 2019UK broadband, telephony and pay TV trends Q3 2018
Market Outlook, ReportsBroadband market volume growth resumed its downward trend in the September quarter after a blip in the previous quarter that was likely caused by a wholesale transfer distorting the figures. Revenue growth, however, perked up to 1.9% from 1.7% in the previous quarter, an encouraging recovery especially given that it was not primarily driven by the timing of a price increase. ARPU growth improved across all four of the major operators, countering recent trends, with a focus on higher value offerings a common theme. High speed broadband adoption accelerated in the quarter across most operators, encouraged by Openreach’s volume discount offer, although this was partially driven by keener high speed pricing. Revenue growth at Virgin Media, Sky and TalkTalk converged at around 3%, with BT Consumer lagging at -1%. However, excluding the effect of BT’s shrinking telephony-only base and smoothing the sporadic boost of its 9-monthly price rise, BT Consumer’s revenue is in the middle of the pack at 3.0% -
January 9, 2019European mobile in Q3 2018
Market Outlook, ReportsEuropean mobile service revenue growth slipped again this quarter to -1.0% as the UK and Germany disappointed and the Southern European countries worsened. The gap in service revenue growth rates between the Southern European countries and the UK and Germany increased again to a spectacular 5.5ppts. Spain was perhaps the biggest surprise this quarter with service revenue growth deteriorating by more than 3ppts; primarily due to Vodafone who posted a dire performance on all fronts. Next quarter, a somewhat delayed improvement in trend from the annualisation of roaming tariff cuts in the UK and Germany is possible, competitive intensity in France looks set to intensify as Iliad renews its aggression in the face of slowing momentum. Although there may be some reprieve on the rate of subscriber loss in Italy, Iliad is likely to continue to impose significant ARPU pressure on all operators. -
December 19, 2018DAZN: lofty ambitions in OTT sports
Flash Report, ReportsWith sport at the heart of the pay-TV ecosystem, dedicated online-only streaming services could emerge as a threat to leading players like Sky. The liveliest newcomer, DAZN, launched in 2016 with mostly second-tier sports. Now in seven markets and counting, it has recently made bold moves into top-flight competitions, notably in Italy, albeit as a secondary player. History has not been kind to those challenging pay-TV incumbents by selling sports unbundled—particularly in Europe, as Setanta, ESPN, beIN SPORTS and Mediaset can testify. If DAZN can stick to secondary positions in premium rights, or simply less-expensive sports, perhaps it will fare better. -
December 14, 2018Iliad running out of luck
Flash Report, ReportsOnce on the winning side of strategic French telecoms price wars thanks to a struggling SFR, Iliad now looks wounded, and a possible prey, suffering from declining fixed and mobile KPIs – we expect cash flow losses of €617 million this year. Broadband, in a capex-heavy migration to higher margin fibre, may stabilise revenue with (somewhat) differentiating new ‘Freeboxes’ bundled with Netflix. Mobile (€2.3 billion burned since launch) hopes rest on on-net transition fostering profitability, but the 5G capex race looms. The new Italian mobile venture is explicitly and surprisingly behind the French legacy: it is already delivering a worse performance, and carrying much higher outlays (after 5G auctions spiralled). We believe Iliad has to revamp its model in France and consider differentiation with content to escape the discount brand trap.Sector Telecom. -
December 14, 2018UK mobile market Q3 2018
Market Outlook, ReportsUK mobile market service revenue grew by 2.4% in Q3, a level not seen since early 2011. However, this 0.6ppt improvement on the growth rate in Q2 was very disappointing in the context of an expected 2-3ppt revenue growth bolster from the annualisation of roaming tariff cuts. EE and O2 shared the top spot for growth, more than double the growth rate of H3G and far ahead of Vodafone which remains in negative territory and had only the slightest uptick this quarter. O2 is likely to be hit by its well-publicised network blackout in December, but experience from a similar problem back in 2012 suggests this will be modest and temporary, and it is otherwise performing well. -
December 11, 2018
5G Update December 2018 – Telstra leading the race to 5G
Flash Report, ReportsQ4 2018 has been a busy time for 5G players with the government auctioning valuable spectrum bands and an update on Telstra’s progress on 5G. Australia is tracking well to have initial 5G services in 2019. This will enable strong growth in devices and mobile data consumption. -
December 7, 2018Virgin Media UK Q3 2018 results: Cautiously accelerating growth
Flash Report, ReportsVirgin Media’s revenue growth accelerated in Q3, off the back of improved subscriber ARPU and triple play growth, but actual customer and broadband figures slowed in line with the weakening market. Network roll-out was still (deliberately) slow, with the rate now well below the previous year, and the company indicating that it is not expecting to accelerate, although it is still the fastest new network builder in the UK by some margin. Both the ARPU focus and slow roll-out point to a cautious approach, with the company happier to ensure its existing customers offer good yields than to seek significant market share growth at this stage, which is probably wise.
