MTN Consulting is focused on network operators & their technology supply chains, tracking the economics of the network operator business and assessing the big shifts that impact technology spending trends. Our coverage includes:

3 major network operator markets

  • Telecom Network Operator (TNO)
  • Webscale Network Operator (WNO)
  • Carrier-Neutral Network Operator (CNNO)

190+ operators

Across the three major network operator markets in all key regions

40+ time series

10+ years’ market- and operator-wise data across quarters and years starting 2011

~50 reports published per year

  • Market data and insight reports spanning –
  • quarterly market reviews
  • operator and vendor deep dives
  • benchmarking and strategic assessments
  • forecast/outlook analysis
Defult Research Image

Latest report

Telecom’s biggest vendors – 2Q24 edition

The goal of this report series is to equip telecom industry decision-makers with a comprehensive view of spending trends and vendor market power in their industry. To do this we assess technology vendors' revenues in the telecom vertical, across a wide range of company types and technology segments. We call this market "telco network infrastructure", or "Telco NI." This study tracks 134 Telco NI vendors, providing revenue and market share estimates for the 1Q13-2Q24 period. Of these 134 vendors, 108 are actively selling to telcos; most others have been acquired by other companies in the database. For instance, ADVA is now part of Adtran, but both companies remain in the database because of historic sales. Below are the key highlights of the report: Revenues: Telco NI vendor revenues were $53.3B in 2Q24 and $205.7B for the annualized 2Q24 period overall, down 3.4% and 8.9% on a YoY basis, respectively. Huawei lifted the market: excluding Huawei, the total market declined by 7.3% in the latest single quarter and by 11.2% in annualized 2Q24 on a YoY basis. After many disappointing quarters, Huawei appears to have turned a corner in the latest three quarters. Top vendors: The top three Telco NI vendors remain the usual trio: Huawei, Ericsson, and Nokia. They account for 37.7% of the total market in annualized 2Q24, or 40.3% in 2Q24 alone. China Comservice and ZTE have been jostling for the 4th and 5th positions since early 2019. Key vendors by YoY revenue growth: The top three vendors, in terms of YoY revenue growth, are common to both single quarter and annualized 2Q24: Tejas Networks, Broadcom, and Alphabet. Respectively, their jumps were due to BSNL’s 4G rollout in India (Tejas), acquisition of VMWare in Nov 2023 (Broadcom), and improved penetration of the telecom vertical with cloud services (Alphabet). Spending outlook: Per our latest official forecast, we expect telco capex - the main driver of the Telco NI market - to dip from $315B in 2023 to between $295B-$305B. Capex will start to rise again in a couple of years, reaching $331B in 2028. The spending outlook for the US market is appealing in the short-term due to government funding (BEAD and RDOF).

Read More

MTN Consulting is focused on network operators & their technology supply chains, tracking the economics of the network operator business and assessing the big shifts that impact technology spending trends. Our coverage includes:

  • 3 major network operator markets
  • 190+ operators
  • 40+ time series
  • 50 reports published per year

Latest report

Telecom’s biggest vendors – 2Q24 edition

The goal of this report series is to equip telecom industry decision-makers with a comprehensive view of spending trends and vendor market power in their industry. To do this we assess technology vendors' revenues in the telecom vertical, across a wide range of company types and technology segments. We call this market "telco network infrastructure", or "Telco NI." This study tracks 134 Telco NI vendors, providing revenue and market share estimates for the 1Q13-2Q24 period. Of these 134 vendors, 108 are actively selling to telcos; most others have been acquired by other companies in the database. For instance, ADVA is now part of Adtran, but both companies remain in the database because of historic sales. Below are the key highlights of the report: Revenues: Telco NI vendor revenues were $53.3B in 2Q24 and $205.7B for the annualized 2Q24 period overall, down 3.4% and 8.9% on a YoY basis, respectively. Huawei lifted the market: excluding Huawei, the total market declined by 7.3% in the latest single quarter and by 11.2% in annualized 2Q24 on a YoY basis. After many disappointing quarters, Huawei appears to have turned a corner in the latest three quarters. Top vendors: The top three Telco NI vendors remain the usual trio: Huawei, Ericsson, and Nokia. They account for 37.7% of the total market in annualized 2Q24, or 40.3% in 2Q24 alone. China Comservice and ZTE have been jostling for the 4th and 5th positions since early 2019. Key vendors by YoY revenue growth: The top three vendors, in terms of YoY revenue growth, are common to both single quarter and annualized 2Q24: Tejas Networks, Broadcom, and Alphabet. Respectively, their jumps were due to BSNL’s 4G rollout in India (Tejas), acquisition of VMWare in Nov 2023 (Broadcom), and improved penetration of the telecom vertical with cloud services (Alphabet). Spending outlook: Per our latest official forecast, we expect telco capex - the main driver of the Telco NI market - to dip from $315B in 2023 to between $295B-$305B. Capex will start to rise again in a couple of years, reaching $331B in 2028. The spending outlook for the US market is appealing in the short-term due to government funding (BEAD and RDOF).

Read More

Our Three Core Offerings

Research

MTNC’s research is focused on communications network infrastructure, a market attracting $3.5 trillion in annual operator revenues. Our goal is to provide credible, holistic assessments of where the NI market currently stands and where it is headed. Reports address market and technology trends, key players, and country dynamics.

Read More

Subscription

MTNC bundles its research into an annual subscription service called “Global Network Infrastructure”. GNI provides clients with an end-to-end view of the network operator business, assessing the big shifts that impact technology spending trends. GNI clients include technology vendors (chips, network equipment and software, IT services), operators, regulators, and investors.

Read More

Consulting

Our consulting services include: scenario planning; market sizing, forecasting, and analysis; organizational strategy; marketing support; competitive benchmarking; and, due diligence support for M&A and PE transactions. We bring experience and independence to the table, and access to the proprietary databases generated by our GNI subscription program.

Read More

Blogs

img
Quantifying the energy cost savings from 2G/3G network shutdowns...
Posted by: Samir Ahmad on 18/10/2022

With each passing day, the 2G and 3G layers of telcos' mobile networks are looming as heavy loads on operating expenses (opex). That's due to multiple issues but especially energy consumption and related costs. With the exist

read more
img
Telco capital intensity hits 10 year peak in 2Q22...
Posted by: Matt Walker on 06/09/2022

Vendors continue to wrestle with supply chain constraints in the telecom sector. That's clear from several recent vendor earnings reports, including those issued by Dell, HPE, and Ciena in recent weeks. Telco spending, though

read more
img
Vendor landscape continues to shift in telecom market as cloud and 5G ...
Posted by: Matt Walker on 29/07/2022

Telco network spending has been on the rise over the last few quarters. Vendor sales of network infrastructure to the telco vertical ("Telco NI”) totaled $55.5B in 1Q22, up 5.7% YoY. On an annualized basis, Telco NI revenue

read more
img
Telecom’s top 3 vendors betting big on enterprise expansion; Hua...
Posted by: Matt Walker on 14/06/2022

Telco NI's top 3 Telcos buy products & services from dozens of different vendors. Our research tracks 130. Some are relatively easy to classify into a segment, e.g. Corning, a "cabling & connectivity" vendor in our

read more
img
After failure to adapt to 4G, telcos need to evolve...
Posted by: Melvin Bankhead III, Contributing Writer on 19/05/2022

It was the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who coined the phrase, “Change is the only constant in life.” Well over a thousand years later, Benjamin Franklin continued the thought, saying, “When you are finished changing

read more
img
Telcos are upgrading their workforce, but it comes at a price...
Posted by: Matt Walker on 11/05/2022

One of the many telecom stats we track is "labor costs", i.e. what telcos spend in salaries and benefits to support their workforce. Not a lot of other analyst firms track labor costs, if any. It's not an easy one to track, a

read more

Our Research Bundles

img
MTN Consulting’s Market Data bundle is designed for clients who need to understand all three types of network operators we track – telecom, webscale, and carrier-neutral. The bundle includes all of our Excel-based Market Review reports tracking these individual operator segments.
img
MTN Consulting’s Telecom Network Operator (TNO) bundle provides clients with a deep dive into the telecommunications segment of network operators. The bundle’s products help clients understand how telcos are growing and transforming their operations.
img
MTN Consulting’s Webscale Network Operator (WNO) bundle provides a deep look at the webscale segment of network operators – how it’s growing, how individual WNOs are building out their networks, and which suppliers are benefiting.

Meet Our Partners

To best support client inquiries and sales opportunities, we work with a small number of channel partners, as follows:

Stay in the loop

Get our latest blog and research alerts by signing up below.