10 December, 2013
Press release: ETNO Annual Economic Report 2013: conditions remain challenging, 2014 to bring change
ETNO presented today the Annual Economic Report 2013. The figures confirm that ETNO members are the driving force of Europe’s telecommunications sector. With a 77.3% share of the total sector employment and a 61% share of the total sector investments, ETNO operators are at the forefront in the global race to empower EU citizens, businesses and public administrations with world class connectivity.
The report, which was prepared in collaboration with the leading telecoms consultancy IDATE, shows a comprehensive picture of the state of EU’s telecoms industry.
The environment remains challenging, as 2012 sees a persistence of the negative growth trend that has affected the region since 2009. Overall telecoms services revenues were 1.8% lower in 2012 than the year before and reached 273.8 bn EUR. IDATE’s estimates for 2013 are that telecom service revenue will decrease by 2.8% within the ETNO perimeter and by 3.7% in the EU-28.
The Annual economic report also confirms that Europe lags behind in the investments race: in the period 2011-2012 the overall CAPEX growth in the EU was negative (-0.2%), compared to strong growth in the US (+6.7%) and Japan (+7.5%). Still, despite the difficult conditions, telecom operators throughout Europe are upholding their investment efforts to roll out fast networks: in 2012, the overall CAPEX reached 46bn EUR, of which 26 bn EUR were channeled to fixed networks and 20bn EUR went into mobile. The guidance for CapEx in 2013[1] is a decrease of 1.3% for the whole industry.
Luigi Gambardella, ETNO’s Chairman, said: "2014 can be the year of the change: regulation and policies will be key in reviving investors' interest in our sector. There are initial positive signals in the markets and we have seen first important steps in the right direction from Brussels. We are confident that this trend will help EU telcos getting back on the growth track. We need high levels of investment to deliver next generation networks to EU citizens and businesses".
Didier Pouillot, Head of the Telecom Economics Practice at IDATE, said: "If telecoms services are ‘economic oxygen’, as the European Commission rightly underlined several times, the conditions must be in place for the sector to breathe properly and thrive”.
Click here to read or download the ETNO Annual Economic Report 2013.
About ETNO
ETNO is the voice of Europe’s telecommunications network operators since 1992. ETNO has 49 full members and observers in 35 countries. ETNO companies are the main drivers of broadband deployment across Europe. ETNO closely contributes to shaping the best regulatory environment for its members to continue rolling out innovative and high quality services and platforms for the benefit of European consumers and businesses.
For more information, please contact:
Alessandro Gropelli, Head of Communications & Media – ETNO, gropelli@etno.eu, +32 (0) 476 941839
