1、Operator revenue diversification: growth beyond core continues as Covid-19 spurs digitisationSeptember 2021 2021 GSM AssociationThe GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with nearly 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handse
2、t and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces the industry-leading MWC events held annually in Barcelona, Los Angeles and Shanghai, as well as the Mobile 360 Series of regional confer
3、ences.For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at Follow the GSMA on Twitter: GSMAGSMA Intelligence is the definitive source of global mobile operator data, analysis and forecasts, and publisher of authoritative industry reports and research. Our data covers every operator group
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6、esearch reports across a range of industry AuthorsPablo Iacopino, Head of Research and Commercial Content Charu Paliwal, Team LeadBhawna Jain, Senior Research AnalystExecutive summaryRevenue diversification: tracking and assessing operator progress123Revenues beyond core: key trends and results4Oper
7、ator revenues: overall performance and Covid-19 impact5 Revenues beyond core: key findings by service3Business diversification drives growth There is often scepticism about operator success beyond core telecoms, but our research based on rigorous and consistent analysis of the financial results of m
8、ajor operator groups shows that operator revenue diversification is real. The average contribution to total revenues of services beyond core (a growing and diverse range of B2B and B2C services) reached 24% in 2020 for the operators analysed, up from 18% in 2017. 12345Shape of the marketProgress bey
9、ond core varies Revenue beyond core as a percentage of total revenues varies significantly (around 1540%) among operators. This is to be expected; there is no one size fits all in terms of strategy or timeline for diversification. Revenue diversification is organic for the majority of operators, but
10、 M&A has provided a boost for AT&T, SoftBank and Verizon (M&A in media) as well as KT (financial services) and SK Telecom (security). The Japanese and South Korean operators lead on diversification, but China is catching up. Strategically and financially more important than ever before Revenue diver
11、sification has become a strategic focus for major operators in recent years, with services beyond core now a key component of growth stories. The goal is twofold: to offset stagnating (or declining) core telecoms revenues and to capture incremental value from new growth areas (such as digital servic
12、es and platforms). For two thirds of the operators analysed, services beyond core were the only source of revenue growth in 2020. Covid-19 has proved to be a catalyst The pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital for consumers and enterprises, fuelling further growth beyond core. In 2020, revenu
13、e beyond core telecoms grew by double digits for half the operators analysed a welcome outcome considering the impact of Covid-19 on mobile roaming and equipment sales. In the enterprise market, demand for value-added services, particularly cloud and security, grew significantly as enterprises sped
14、up their digital transformation. What lies ahead There is still potential for further growth beyond core, particularly in B2B as enterprise digitisation accelerates. Cloud and security will continue to drive B2B revenue growth. Operators are also stepping up their efforts in financial services (B2B
15、and B2C) across all regions, including securing new digital banking licences. In the consumer market, momentum for gaming and e-sports will likely accelerate as 5G, cloud/edge and extended reality (XR) technologies shape the future of digital entertainment. A range of operators have already launched
16、 local cloud gaming subscription services; others are likely to launch over the next 12 months. 4The market in numbers41%SoftBank leads on share In 2020, SoftBank (41%) surpassed AT&T (37%) as the operator with the highest share of revenue beyond core. More than half of SoftBanks revenue beyond core
17、 comes from Yahoo Japan (commerce and media business).$200 billionRevenue beyond coreIn 2020, services beyond core (B2B and B2C) were worth around $200 billion in revenues for the 16 operators analysed (in aggregate) and are growing. Operator revenue diversification is real. 2China leads on growth R
18、evenue beyond core has nearly doubled over the last three years for the three Chinese operators in aggregate a remarkable achievement driven by advancements in B2B and backed by the governments tech agenda. 24%Beyond core as a share of total revenuesBeyond core as a percentage of total revenues grew
19、 for all 16 operators except AT&T in 2020 (the Covid-19 impact on WarnerMedias business). The average contribution reached 24%, up from 22% in 2019 and 18% in 2017. 30%B2B share of total revenuesConsumer is the largest contributor to revenue, but enterprise is the main growth driver as operators tar
20、get the digital transformation of industries. B2B as a share of total revenues grew from an average of 27% in 2017 to 30% in 2020.9%Average growth beyond coreRevenue beyond core grew 9% year-on-year on average in 2020. This was the result of 4% growth in pay TV and 12% growth in other non-core servi
21、ces. Cloud and security were the top areas of growth in the B2B market.52020 in review: 10 key insights Services beyond core were the only source of revenue growth for two thirds of the operators analysed, as core revenue stagnated or declined.Operators in China, Japan and South Korea were the most
22、resilient during the pandemic (group revenue grew for most of them).Services beyond core generated two percentage points of revenue growth on average (taking total revenues in 2019 as the base).Revenue beyond core is now greater than fixed revenue for two thirds of the operators analysed a further s
23、ignal of the shifting revenue mix.If revenue beyond core were to represent a mobile market, it would be the second-largest in the world after the US bigger than China and Europe.12345In China, cloud revenue grew seven times faster than IoT revenue (for the three operators in aggregate).Operators tha
24、t had higher revenue growth beyond core also recorded stronger performance in their core business (non-core helps core and vice versa).In Japan, services beyond core accounted for 90% of total revenue growth (for the three major operators in aggregate).Gaming, financial services, cloud and security
25、were the leading areas in terms of new operator activity.Banking and financial services became the largest source of revenue for BT Global Services.6789106Revenue diversification: tracking and assessing operator progress123Revenues beyond core: key trends and results4Operator revenue: overall perfor
26、mance and Covid-19 impact5 Revenues beyond core: key findings by serviceExecutive summary7Assessing operator revenue growth: how did 2020 go?15.87.1 5.0 4.7 4.63.0 1.6 1.4-0.4 -1.8 -2.3 -2.7 -3.3-5.2 -7.7-11.6TurkcellSoftBankSK TelecomChina TelecomChina UnicomChina MobileNTT DocomoKDDIAmrica Mvil KT
27、TelenorVerizonTelefnicaAT&TSingtelTelstraSource: company figures (at group level), GSMA Intelligence A mixed picture. Half the operators we analysed reported revenue growth in 2020, while the other half reported revenue decreases. A closer look reveals two trends. First, most operators in China, Jap
28、an and South Korea grew their revenues thanks to a fairly resilient core business (traditional mobile and fixed services) and solid growth (double-digit for most) in services beyond core telecoms. Three of them (China Telecom, China Unicom and NTT Docomo) shifted from a revenue decline in 2019 to re
29、venue growth in 2020 remarkable considering the challenges of the pandemic. Second, five operators saw a deterioration in their revenue trend, shifting from revenue growth in 2019 to a revenue decline in 2020 largely due to the impact of the pandemic on mobile revenues. Amrica Mvil, Telefnica and Te
30、lenor are notable examples given their large footprints in developing markets. Turkcell continues to be an outlier (with double-digit revenue growth). Group revenue: year-on-year change (%) in 2020*Growth accelerationFrom decline to growth Growth slowdown China Mobile SK Telecom SoftBankFrom growtht
31、o declineWeakening (stronger decline) KDDI Turkcell China Telecom China Unicom NTT DocomoComparison with previous year* AT&T Singtel Telstra Amrica Mvil KT Telefnica Telenor Verizon China, Japan and South Korea*Organic figures for Amrica Mvil, Singtel, Telefnica and Telenor. *Comparing year-on-year
32、changes in 2019 and 2020. 8Covid-19: mid, single-digit impact on revenueCovid-19 impact on group revenue (2020)* Business areas most affected Roaming Prepaid mobile Equipment sales Digital advertising Impact of 45%. Of the 16 operators analysed, only three disclosed the full impact of the Covid-19 p
33、andemic on their 2020 group revenues. This was 4% for Telefnica and 5% for both AT&T and Singtel. An impact on mobile revenue was a common factor. On top of this, Covid-19 had a significant impact on AT&Ts WarnerMedia business due to limited and postponed theatre and home entertainment releases, as
34、well as lower TV licensing, production and advertising revenues. Impact on mobile across the board. This was highlighted by most operators, including those who did not disclose the full impact of Covid-19. Within mobile, the business areas most affected were roaming (given the significant decrease i
35、n international travel) and equipment sales (due to slower handset replacement rates, lower gross adds and disruption to the global supply chain). The impact is now lessening. For example, AT&Ts revenue has gradually recovered over the last two quarters, returning to pre-pandemic levels across most
36、of its businesses. In general, the impact on international travel and roaming remains the biggest headwind, which will likely continue to 2022. Service revenues 76% Device sales 24%0.6%-3.9% -3.3%Growth excluding Covid-19 impactCovid-19 impactGrowth includingCovid-19 impactImpact breakdown (% of tot
37、al Covid-19 impact) Media and advertising 62% Mobile services 14% Mobile equipment 5% Pay TV 4% Business wireline 2% Other 13%Impact breakdown (% of total Covid-19 impact)-0.6%-4.6% -5.2%-2.5%-5.2%-7.7%Source: company figures (at group level), GSMA Intelligence *As a percentage of 2019 revenue. Base
38、d on organic figures for Singtel and Telefnica. TelefnicaFull year ended December 2020AT&TFull year ended December 2020SingtelFull year ended March 20219Services beyond core drive revenue growth during Covid-19 Covid-19 fuelling growth beyond core. Even before the pandemic, the trend towards digitis
39、ation was clear but the pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital for consumers and enterprises. For example, the adoption of e-commerce during the peak of the pandemic nearly doubled compared to pre-Covid-19 levels in major countries, including the US, Canada, France, Italy, Australia, Brazil a
40、nd Mexico.* While e-commerce volumes have declined from their Covid-19 peak (due to the re-opening of retail stores), e-commerce as a share of total retail sales is still 30% higher than pre-Covid levels. Mobile commerce accounts for the majority of e-commerce transactions. In the enterprise market,
41、 demand for digital solutions and value-added services, especially cloud and security, grew significantly as enterprises accelerated their digital transformation. Media and advertising was an exception. This was the only non-core area suffering the Covid-19 crisis at scale, due to lower content prod
42、uction and digital advertising (cuts in advertising spend by brands and advertisers). As shown on the previous page, for AT&T, more than 60% of Covid-19-related revenue losses in 2020 came from its WarnerMedia business. Fixed more resilient than mobile. Covid-19 boosted demand for home broadband acc
43、ess and high-speed connectivity to support remote working, home schooling and a surge in video consumption and online shopping. This made fixed revenues (with average growth of 0.9%) more resilient than mobile revenues (1.0%). -1.0%0.9%4.3%11.5%MobilePay TVFixedOther servicesCore telecomsBeyond core
44、 telecoms149772699YoY change in 2020 Number of operators that had:Revenue growth by category of servicerevenue growthrevenue decline*Simple average of year-on-year changes.Source: company figures (at group level), GSMA Intelligence16 operators in aggregate*E-commerce as a percentage of total retail
45、sales. 1019%5%20%56%A snapshot of the operator revenue mixContribution to total revenues by category of service, 2020* MobilePay TVFixedOther servicesCore telecomsBeyond core telecomsAverageSource: company figures (at group level), GSMA Intelligence Mobile leads for most. Telstra is the exception (w
46、ith fixed revenue slightly greater than mobile revenue). AT&T has the most balanced mix. Beyond core greater than fixed for many. Revenue generated by services beyond core is now greater than fixed revenue for two thirds of the operators analysed a further signal of the shifting revenue mix. 0%10%20
47、%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%SoftBankAT&TKTSK TelecomSingtel Turkcell KDDINTT DocomoTelefnicaChina TelecomTelstra VerizonChina UnicomAmrica MvilTelenorChina Mobile*Sorted by share of beyond core (from highest to lowest). 11Consumer (B2C) versus enterprise (B2B): scale versus growth Source: company figu
48、res (at group level), GSMA Intelligence27%28%29% 30%2017 2018 2019 2020 Revenue disclosure for B2B services is limited. However, we were able to gather data for 11 major operator groups. Consumer services are the largest contributor to revenue, but enterprise is the main growth driver as operators i
49、ncreasingly target the digital transformation of vertical industries. B2B as a share of total revenues grew from an average of 27% in 2017 to 30% in 2020. Disclosure of B2B revenue by vertical sector is virtually non-existent, but our Operators in Focus Enterprise Opportunity 2021 Survey shows that
50、operators expect financial services, manufacturing and retail to be the top verticals in terms of B2B revenue (connectivity and value-added services) through to 2025 with variation by region. A mixed picture for B2B revenue in 2020. The pandemic has increased enterprises need for digital transformat
