Europe's Big Five Telcos - the End of Empire?

Pringle Media has just published a report evaluating the financial performance of Europe's top five telcos over the past five years. Aimed at investors and policy makers, the 25-page report provides a high level overview of the profitability and spending power of Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, Vodafone, Orange and Telecom Italia.

 Some of the key findings include:

• The aggregate revenue of the top five telcos is now almost 9% lower than it was in 2010.
• In 2014, the top five telcos, on average, kept the top line flat - a marked improvement on the 2% revenue fall in 2013.
• Europe’s top five telcos’ operations generated net cash of 47 billion euros in 2014 compared with 61 billion euros in 2010 (after tax and interest payments)
• Europe’s top telcos are now spending an average of 17% of revenues on capex (excluding spectrum license fees), up from 14% in 2010.
• With an average return on capital employed (ROCE) between 2010 and 2014 of 6.5%, Europe’s big five telcos are not an attractive proposition for investors

The iPad edition of the report is available here

The Amazon Kindle edition is available here

China Mobile Sees Q4 Revenue Fall

China Mobile reported a 1.8% increase in revenue for the year 2014 to 641 billion Chinese yuan (103 billion US dollars).  Revenues from applications and information services climbed 12% to 64 billion yuan (10.4 billion dollars), but voice revenue was down 13% and messaging revenue 16%.

In the fourth quarter, revenue fell almost 4% year-on-year to 161 billion yuan. In 2015, China Mobile plans to cut capex by 6% to 200 billion yuan, having now deployed 720,000 4G base stations. source: China Mobile presentation

Orange Aims to Triple Data Speeds

Orange unveiled a multi-faceted strategic plan designed "to provide each of its customers, wherever they are, an incomparable service experience" and ensure that its revenues in 2018 are higher than in 2014. To that end, the Paris-based telco said it will invest more than 15 billion euros in its networks between 2014 and 2018, aiming to triple average data speeds on both fixed and mobile networks over that period. source: Orange statement

Apple Watch Claims 18 Hour Battery Life

Available in three collections, Apple Watch will start at 349 US dollars, rising to over 10,000 dollars  for the Apple Watch Edition, which is "crafted from custom rose or yellow 18-karat gold alloys." Designed to run communications, health and fitness, and mobile commerce apps, Apple Watch can last up to 18 hours on one battery charge, according to Apple.

From April 24, Apple Watch will be available in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US. It only works with an iPhone 5 or iPhone 6. source: Apple statement