Homepage

European mobile service revenue growth improved by 1ppt to -1.2% primarily as a consequence of diminished competitive intensity in France. Trends elsewhere were largely flat.

The mobile sector is playing an important role in tackling COVID-19 and is likely to be relatively resilient in the short term with a broadly neutral financial impact. Longer term it will be exposed to the fortunes of the economy.

There are reasons to believe that the improvement in trends evidenced in the last quarter may continue as churn reduction takes the heat out of some markets, cuts to intra-EU calls annualises out and for most countries, end-of-contract notifications will only begin to impact in 2021.
 

Part 2 of our Conference Report provides edited transcripts of the panel discussions. Videos of these sessions are also available on the conference website.

On the 5 March 2020 Enders Analysis co-hosted the annual Media & Telecoms 2020 & Beyond conference with Deloitte and sponsored by Allen & Overy, Barclays, and The Financial Times 

The conference was chaired by David Abraham, CEO of Wonderhood Studios. With a stellar speaker line up, this invitation-only event saw over 450 senior attendees come together to hear some of the world’s leading media and communications executives discuss the forces shaping their businesses 

This report provides edited transcripts, videos and slides of the keynote speaker presentations. Videos of the presentations are also available on the conference website 

Demand for telecoms capacity is booming, and the networks can (broadly) cope, with the increase primarily in off-peak demand. However, as the crisis continues, maintaining resilience becomes more challenging.

In the short term, the demand for ample, reliable connectivity coupled with reduced churn will add resilience to operator financials, although there may be significant weak spots especially in business markets.

However, as the crisis goes on, the pressure on capacity and network maintenance may grow, and the impact of the dramatic economic slowdown on consumers and businesses will also put pressure on financials.

In a likely scenario, the suspended football season could be concluded in empty stadiums in a June and July rush, nevertheless with severe financial consequences.

Pay-TV incumbents like Sky face limited risk—at worst they lose four months of subscription revenue for games already paid for. No-contract services such as DAZN must anticipate a more severe shock. 

To limit disruption, pain will have to be shared across the supply-chain with players’ pay first in line. But fast coordination in a continent-wide, multi-layered industry is challenging; in places, the issue may turn political.