Market insights

MTN Consulting’s published research covers a wide range of market issues. Each quarter, our three market segment trackers assess the growth and development of telco, webscale, and carrier-neutral network operators. Other market insight reports focus on telco labor costs and layoffs; investment bubble risk in webscale/data center; connected car ecosystems; smart cities (aka surveillance cities); and, policy & regulatory issues (with a focus on US-China relations).

Products

Telecom’s biggest vendors, 4Q24: Vendor market upturn breaks nine-quarter decline

By Arun Menon published on April 7, 2025 Telco NI vendor revenues were $57.6B in 4Q24 and $206.9B for the 2024 year overall, up 2.2% and down 3.0% on a YoY basis, respectively. Huawei, which lifted the market in the first half of 2024... read more

Greener networks: Telcos power up traffic efficiency

By Matt Walker published on March 25, 2025 The group of 30 telcos included in this analysis represent about 55% of the global market, based on revenues. Our data verify the well-known revenue-traffic conundrum, where tr... read more

Webscale Market Review, 4Q24: Annual capex breaks the $300B mark

By Matt Walker published on March 20, 2025 In 4Q24, webscale capex grew an astounding 78% YoY, to push the annual total just over the $300B benchmark. Webscale capex also grew around 70% YoY for two quarters in 2018, so the growth rate ... read more

Vendor sustainability: Ciena leads the green charge among NEPs; chip, fiber, and Chinese vendors lag

By Matt Walker published on February 6, 2025 This brief report addresses energy consumption, use of renewables, and carbon emissions among key vendors to the telecommunications operator (telco) sector.  read more

Telecom’s biggest vendors – 3Q24 edition

By Arun Menon published on February 5, 2025 Telco NI vendor revenues were $49.6B in 3Q24 and $205.7B for the annualized 3Q24 period overall, up 0.3% and down 5.6% on a YoY basis, respectively. Huawei lifted the market: excluding Huawei, ... read more

Telecommunications Network Operators: 3Q24 Market Review

By Arun Menon published on January 16, 2025 Global telco revenues showed a slight recovery in 3Q24, growing by 0.8% YoY to reach $441.4 billion (B) during the July–September period. In the US, AT&T (-0.5%) and Verizon (0.0%) strugg... read more

Telco Opex Analyzer, 2016-23

By Arun Menon published on January 16, 2025 This report delves into operational expenditure (opex) trends in the telecommunications network operator (TNO) market. In this edition, the telco sample group includes 32 companies, covering da... read more

Operators take baby steps towards sustainability as climate change worsens rapidly

By Matt Walker published on December 20, 2024 This short report is focused on the energy consumption and environmental policies of the world’s network operators. It presents data on energy demand, use of renewables, emissions, and energy... read more

Webscale Network Operators: 3Q24 Market Review

By Matt Walker published on December 13, 2024 After declining 5% in 2023, webscale capex has grown at incredibly fast, unsustainable rates in 2024: up by 25%, 51%, and 58% YoY in the first three quarters of the year. 3Q24 capex of $75.6B p... read more

Network Operator Capex Forecast: 4Q24 Edition

By Matt Walker published on November 15, 2024 This forecast presents MTN Consulting’s projections for growth and development of three sectors of network operators: telcos, webscalers, and carrier-neutral operators. read more