Gitnux/Report 2026

Telecoms Industry Statistics

By 2026, half of communications service providers are expected to have commercial 5G network slicing offerings, while 30% of telecom service providers plan to deploy AI in network operations by 2025, reshaping how networks are built and run. With telecom cost pressure driven by opex that can make up around 60% of total lifecycle costs and even 5G NSA capable of cutting cost per gigabyte by up to 20%, these operator and market figures help you see exactly where investment, performance KPIs, and cyber risk are likely to collide.
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November 10, 2026Updated
Telecoms Industry Statistics
Aisha OkonkwoWritten by Aisha Okonkwo·Edited by Karl Becker·Fact-checked by Yumi Nakamura
Published ·Updated
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

Before any source is gathered, an editor locks the question, what qualifies, and how the piece will be judged.

02Source Research

Search agents collect the source set and pull each data point out with its provenance attached.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 39 days

01 Industry overview

The telecoms industry at a glance

Global telecoms are expanding through 5G, fibre and AI, with mobile operators generating $1.08 trillion in revenue in 2024 and forecast to reach $1.25 trillion by 2030.

$1.08tn[11]
Mobile operator revenue, 2024
50m[11]
Jobs supported by mobile, 2025
36%[86]
Mobile broadband that is 5G, 2025
$1.25tn[11]
Forecast mobile operator revenue, 2030
Market size
Global mobile operators generated $1.08 trillion in revenue in 2024. Mobile technologies and services contributed $6.5 trillion in economic value added, equivalent to 5.8% of global GDP in 2024.[11]
Forecast & CAGR
GSMA forecasts mobile operator revenue of $1.25 trillion in 2030, up from $1.08 trillion in 2024, implying approximately 2.4% compound annual growth over the period. Mobile’s wider economic contribution is forecast to reach $11.3 trillion, or 8.4% of global GDP, by 2030.[11]
Market share & regions
In 2025, mobile broadband subscriptions reached 132 per 100 inhabitants in the Americas, compared with 56 per 100 in Africa. 5G represented more than 40% of mobile broadband subscriptions in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe, but 2% or less in Africa and the CIS region.[86]
Segmentation
The industry is segmented across mobile communications, fixed broadband, enterprise connectivity, infrastructure and digital services. In 2025, the world had approximately 9.2 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions, 1.6 billion fixed-broadband subscriptions and 6.0 billion Internet users.[86]
Key players & concentration
The global market is led by large integrated operators such as China Mobile, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Telefónica, alongside national and regional fibre providers. As an indication of scale, AT&T reported 145 million wireless subscribers in North America at December 31, 2025, including 120 million in the United States.[23]
Pricing
Affordability remains uneven: in 2025, the mobile data and voice high-consumption basket represented 0.1% of average income in high-income economies, 3.9% in upper-middle-income economies, 15.8% in lower-middle-income economies and 52.5% in low-income economies. The global average was 5.5% of income.[86]
Trends, drivers & challenges
5G, fibre, cloud, IoT and AI are driving network investment and new enterprise services. GSMA forecasts operator capital expenditure of $1.3 trillion between 2024 and 2030, while the sector still faces affordability gaps and 2.2 billion people remained offline in 2025.[11][86]
Consumer behavior & competition
Data-led services are replacing voice-only usage: mobile broadband accounted for 89% of all mobile subscriptions in 2025, up from less than 50% in 2015. Approximately 6 billion people, or 74% of the world’s population, used the Internet in 2025, while multiple-SIM ownership means subscription counts exceed the number of individual users.[86]
M&A
Telecom M&A is concentrating on fibre, spectrum, fixed-mobile convergence and AI-ready infrastructure. In the United States, AT&T agreed to acquire Lumen’s consumer fibre business for $5.75 billion, while Charter announced a $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications; PwC recorded 58 telecom deals completed through May 2026.[87][9]
Regulation
Telecoms regulation covers spectrum, licensing, competition, infrastructure access, consumer transparency, privacy and cybersecurity. The EU Gigabit Infrastructure Act generally began applying on November 12, 2025, with measures intended to reduce deployment costs and speed fibre expansion; globally, the 2024 ITU Radio Regulations entered into force on January 1, 2025.[88][86][18]
Latest news
The latest industry outlook is centred on the transition from 5G rollout to monetisation, AI-enabled network operations and infrastructure consolidation. GSMA reports that 45% of operators view AI monetisation as a strategic priority, while mobile technologies generated $7.6 trillion for the global economy in 2025.[11]

02 Ranking

Top 10 Companies in the Telecoms Industry

The leading companies in the telecoms industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 9, 2026 · Next review December 9, 2026

Verdict

Deutsche Telekom leads Gitnux's 2026 telecoms ranking with an Overall score of 9.0, with €119.1 billion revenue in 2025 and over 273 million mobile customers. América Móvil is the runner-up at 8.9, driven by 22.5% revenue growth and 20.3% operating margin.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in mobile operator services

    Deutsche Telekom

    DE

    Ranked #1 · 9.0 · Mobile operator services

    Why we picked it: It reports €119.1 billion revenue and over 273 million mobile customers, spanning mobile, fixed broadband, and enterprise connectivity.

    See in ranking ↓Visit telekom.com ↗

  2. #2 overall

    América Móvil

    MX

    Ranked #2 · 8.9 · Mobile operator services

    Why we picked it: Its Americas-focused mobile, fixed broadband, and enterprise connectivity profile is supported by 22.5% revenue growth.

    See in ranking ↓Visit americamovil.com ↗

  3. Leader in telecom network infrastructure

    Nokia

    FI

    Ranked #3 · 8.9 · Telecom network infrastructure

    Why we picked it: Its network and mobile infrastructure net sales totaled €19.889 billion in 2025.

    See in ranking ↓Visit nokia.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Pick 2 is the highest-ranked company in the top 5 that adds a new segment; no further segment places in the top 5, so pick 3 follows rank.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 10 companies in the telecoms industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

Deutsche Telekom

Mobile operator services · DE

9.0
2

América Móvil

Mobile operator services · MX

8.9
3

Nokia

Telecom network infrastructure · FI

8.9
4

Bharti Airtel

Mobile operator services · IN

8.9
5

Huawei

Telecom network equipment and infrastructure, global · CN

8.8
6

Verizon

Mobile, broadband and enterprise connectivity, United States · US

8.8
7

China Mobile

Mobile, broadband and digital connectivity, China · CN

8.8
8

Ericsson

Mobile network equipment and telecom infrastructure, global · SE

8.8
9

NTT

Fixed, mobile and enterprise telecommunications, Japan and global · JP

8.6
10

ZTE

Telecom network equipment and infrastructure, global · CN

8.3

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).
  • Performance (20%): recent revenue growth and operating margin; an analyst assessment where a company does not publish them.
  • Momentum (20%): growth trajectory and future potential.
  • Innovation (15%): R&D intensity and how technologically advanced the company is.

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 9, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Aisha Okonkwo. (2026, February 13). Top 10 companies in the telecoms industry. In Telecoms Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/telecoms-industry-statistics/#top-companies

report visual · Projection

World mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants

World mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants grew from 103.1 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in 2018 to 110.6 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in 2023.

103
Start
+1.41%
CAGR · 5y
111
Projected
20182023
source-verifieditu.int2023

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

Technology & Innovation is dominated by AI in operations and customer experiences, including 76% of operators deploying agentic-AI-led automation on average.

AI in the telecoms industry

  • 76% of operators had deployed agentic-AI-led customer-experience automation on average across surveyed regions.[1]
  • 73% of telecom operators primarily applied AI to IT modernization, according to a global operator study.[1]
  • 55% of global telcos were exploring potential agentic-AI use cases in 2026.[1]
  • 49% of global telecommunications professionals said their organizations were actively using AI in 2024.[2]
  • 84% of surveyed telecommunications respondents said AI was helping increase their companies’ annual revenue.[3]
  • 33% of global telecommunications respondents said they were investing in AI for field-operations optimization in 2024.[2]

Automation in the telecoms industry

  • 92% of surveyed telecom operators used generative AI to process structured and unstructured data for customer-chatbot experiences.[4]
  • 45% of telecom operators rated data silos as a somewhat challenging barrier to autonomous-network deployment.[5]
  • 26% of predefined AI and generative-AI use cases had been implemented at scale by surveyed telcos.[6]
  • 17% of predefined product-and-offer-management AI use cases had been deployed at scale by surveyed telcos.[6]
  • 40% of predefined marketing-and-sales AI use cases had been deployed at scale by surveyed telcos.[6]
  • 25% of predefined network-and-operations AI use cases had been deployed at scale by surveyed telcos.[6]

Digital Transformation in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • Telco IT spending rose to 6.9% of revenue in 2023, from 6.6% in 2022, among European telecommunications operators surveyed by TeBIT.[6]
  • Close to 80% of telecommunications executives said their companies were not ready to become data-first, AI-driven organizations, despite expecting data and AI to transform their businesses within three years; global survey, 2024.[7]
  • 72% of telecommunications executives reported difficulty implementing and scaling generative-AI use cases, citing outdated architectures and fragmented data; survey across 24 countries, 2024.[7]
  • About 20% of telecommunications companies qualified as leaders in data transformation, having established intelligent, agile and scalable data estates; survey across 24 countries, 2024.[7]

Technology Adoption in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • European telecommunications operators expected AI and generative-AI spending to reach 0.24% of revenue in 2024 before declining to 0.20% in 2025; TeBIT survey.[6]
  • Telecommunications operators allocated 0.16% of revenue to artificial intelligence and generative AI in 2023, compared with 0.49% for the global telecom industry and 0.42% cross-sector.[6]
  • European telecommunications operators ranked in the third-highest AI-maturity category, AI scaling, while no surveyed operator reached the highest category, AI future-built; TeBIT survey, 2024.[6]
  • Telecommunications operators expected 1.27% of their workforce to be dedicated to AI and generative AI by the end of 2024, up from 1.0% in 2023; European TeBIT survey.[6]
  • Telecommunications operators expected to upskill 10% of employees in artificial-intelligence knowledge and use during 2024; European TeBIT survey.[6]

Cloud Computing in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • 42% of communications service providers hosting business-customer workloads believed rising AI demand would shift workloads from private clouds to telco edge clouds; survey across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, 2025.[8]
  • 26% of telecommunications respondents identified bundled networking, security and cloud services under one pricing package as a primary factor in business-customer adoption; survey across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, 2025.[8]
  • 55% of telecommunications respondents said business customers would choose telco cloud services because of their location at the network edge; survey across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, 2025.[8]
  • 47% of telecommunications respondents identified hosting workloads as their top motivation for operating a telco cloud, including 25% focused on business-customer workloads and 22% on third-party applications; 2025.[8]
  • 29% of telecommunications respondents used telco clouds to host communications-service-provider services, particularly data services; survey across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, 2025.[8]

Big Data in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • 82% of telecommunications executives rated their companies as low-to-medium maturity in data strategy and governance, while 18% rated them highly mature; survey across 24 countries, 2024.[7]
  • 84% of telecommunications executives rated their companies as low-to-medium maturity in data infrastructure, while 16% rated them highly mature; survey across 24 countries, 2024.[7]
  • 52% of telecommunications executives expected data and AI transformation to have a high-to-disruptive impact on net promoter scores; survey across 24 countries, 2024.[7]
  • 90% of telecommunications executives rated their companies as low-to-medium maturity in data architecture, while 10% rated them highly mature; survey across 24 countries, 2024.[7]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

Data & Analytics highlights data-quality friction in field-to-system updates: 48% of operators still used paper notes in 2026.

Business intelligence in the telecoms industry

  • 16% of surveyed telecom executives described AI as the new normal across their organization.[9]
  • 54% of surveyed telecom companies had rolled out at least 100 AI use cases during the previous year.[10]
  • 82% of surveyed telecom companies planned to increase AI spending during the next fiscal year.[10]
  • 79% of surveyed telecom companies increased AI spending during the previous fiscal year.[10]
  • 57% of surveyed telecom executives reported scaling AI use cases across multiple business domains.[9]
  • 46% of surveyed telecom firms reported significant returns from AI-powered search across their value chain.[10]

Data analytics in the telecoms industry

  • 17% of telco AI deployments targeted sales and marketing in 2025.[11]
  • 47% of telco AI deployments targeted customer care in 2025.[11]
  • 54% of surveyed telecom organizations were using AI for network planning, deployment or optimization in 2026.[12]
  • 17% of telco AI deployments targeted network functions in 2025.[11]
  • 58% of telecom companies surveyed in 2026 were using AI for data processing and analytics.[12]
  • 9% of telco AI deployments targeted corporate functions in 2025.[11]

Data Quality in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across telecommunications, 100% of operators reported business impacts from inaccurate physical network data during the previous 12 months in 2026, including delays and valuation risks.[13]
  • Across telecommunications, 7% of operators said network-data updates occurred immediately after field work, while 49% said updates occurred within one week in 2026.[13]
  • Across telecommunications, 48% of operators still used paper notes in the field that were manually entered into digital network systems later in 2026.[13]
  • Across telecommunications, 78% of operators said network-asset data quality had a critical or major influence on merger-and-acquisition valuations in 2026.[13]
  • Across telecommunications, 13% of operators said more than three-quarters of their network records were accurate in 2026, based on 500 senior decision-makers in the US, Canada and UK.[13]
  • Across telecommunications, 71% of operators identified project and service-activation delays as the most common impact of inaccurate physical network data in 2026.[13]

Data Governance in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across telecommunications, 21 of 26 operators surveyed expected to increase data-platform investment during the following three years in 2025.[14]
  • Across telecommunications, 41% of operators reported an end-to-end data architecture integrating all departments, while 38% managed data in separate departmental silos in 2025.[15]
  • Across telecommunications, 21% of operators reported using a mixture of integrated architecture and siloed data management in 2025.[15]
  • Across telecommunications, 58% of operators surveyed worldwide had fully deployed one or two data platforms in 2025, according to a survey of 26 operators.[14]
  • Across telecommunications, more than 60% of operators planning higher data-platform spending expected increases of 1% to 10% over the next three years in 2025.[14]
  • Across telecommunications, 80% of operators ranked telecoms experience and cost among their three most important criteria when selecting data-platform providers in 2025.[14]

KPIs in the telecoms industry

  • 71% of fixed-wireless-access service providers offered service over 5G in 2026.[16]
  • The US had 579 million wireless connections in 2024.[17]
  • The US wireless industry reported an annual churn rate of 18.5% in 2023.[18]
  • The US wireless industry carried 132 trillion megabytes of mobile data in 2024.[17]
  • The US had 259 million 5G devices in 2024.[17]
  • 5G subscriptions reached nearly 3.3 billion globally in the second quarter of 2026.[16]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Strategy & Growth frames telecom as expanding mobile internet and 5G coverage, with 5G coverage at 54% of the world’s population in 2024.

Growth in the telecoms industry

  • Around 110 million people started using mobile internet in 2024, according to GSMA’s Mobile Economy 2025 report.[11]
  • Unique mobile subscribers are projected to reach 6.5 billion by 2030, representing a 71% population-penetration rate.[11]
  • Asia Pacific is expected to contribute about 40% of new mobile-internet subscribers between 2025 and 2030.[11]
  • Mobile internet penetration is projected to reach 5.5 billion users, or 64% of the global population, by 2030.[11]
  • The mobile ecosystem’s economic contribution is projected to reach $11.3 trillion by 2030.[11]
  • 5G is projected to represent more than half of global mobile connections by 2030.[11]

Differentiation in the telecoms industry

  • More than 700 million additional people gained 5G coverage in 2024.[11]
  • 45% of mobile operators identified monetisation as a strategic priority in 2025.[11]
  • 5G accounted for more than half of mobile connections in North America, Greater China and developed Asia Pacific by the end of 2024.[11]
  • Almost 150 million additional people gained 4G coverage for the first time in 2024.[11]
  • 5G adoption is expected to exceed 80% by 2030 in leading 5G markets.[11]
  • 5G covered 90% of the population in high-income countries in 2024, compared with 47% in low- and middle-income countries.[11]

Mergers and acquisitions in the telecoms industry

  • Verizon’s announced acquisition of Frontier was valued at $20.3 billion in 2024.[19]
  • CSPs completed 514 mobile and wireline M&A deals worldwide during 2019–2023.[20]
  • The Americas accounted for the leading regional share of global telecom M&A deal value in 2024.[19]
  • Charter Communications’ announced acquisition of Liberty Broadband was valued at $16.6 billion in 2024.[19]
  • Windstream’s announced merger with Uniti was valued at $13.4 billion in 2024.[19]

Strategic partnerships in the telecoms industry

  • Mobile operators increasingly partnered with hyperscalers, AI-platform providers and IT companies to reduce time to market and capital risk in 2025.[11]
  • Deutsche Telekom entered regional partnerships with R-Kom, Energie Südbayern and Allgäuer Überlandwerk in 2024.[21]
  • Deutsche Telekom entered a partnership with Kabel + Sat Bergen concerning a publicly funded fiber-optic network in 2024.[21]
  • Bilateral agreements to reduce international IoT roaming costs were reported by 18.3% of countries in the ITU’s 2024 data.[22]
  • Telefónica had seven network-infrastructure suppliers accounting for 83% of awarded contract value in 2024.[23]
  • Seven of Telefónica’s IT providers represented 30% of IT purchases in 2024.[23]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

People & Workforce shows ongoing skill and execution constraints, including 205,000 fiber technicians estimated for US broadband-program demand.

Hiring in the telecoms industry

  • 140,990 employees worked at AT&T at the end of 2024, according to an analysis of major U.S. telecom operators.[24]
  • 205,000 fiber technicians were estimated to be needed in the United States to meet broadband-program demand.[25]
  • 20% was the reported combined workforce reduction among the 20 largest global telcos over the previous seven years.[26]
  • 91,000 direct telecommunications jobs remained in France in 2024, down from 140,000 in 2004.[27]
  • 42% of surveyed U.S. broadband stakeholders reported labor-shortage challenges.[25]

Employee retention in the telecoms industry

  • 8.3% was the lowest reported employee-turnover rate among 22 telecommunications-services companies in fiscal 2025.[28]
  • 204,414 employees worked at Deutsche Telekom at December 31, 2024.[21]
  • 12.9% was the median employee turnover rate across 22 telecommunications-services companies in fiscal 2025.[28]
  • 22% was e& PPF Telecom Group’s employee-turnover rate in 2024.[29]
  • 28.2% of Deutsche Telekom employees were over age 50 in 2024.[21]

Remote Work in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across technology and telecommunications companies, 5% of corporate employees were expected to work fully remotely in 2024, according to surveyed CEOs globally.[30]
  • At TTEC, approximately 50% of global employees worked remotely in 2025, while the remaining 50% worked onsite.[23]
  • Across telecommunications employers, 41% permitted fully remote working and relocation beyond commuting distance in 2024, compared with 34% across all sectors.[26]
  • At Kyivstar, 77% of employees were permitted to work in hybrid or remote capacities in 2024.[31]

Hybrid Work in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across technology and telecommunications companies, 30% of corporate employees were expected to work in a hybrid arrangement in 2024, according to surveyed CEOs globally.[30]
  • Across Cisco’s surveyed workforce, 45% reported hybrid working, defined as one to four office days per week, in 2025.[32]
  • In the UK information and communication industry, 49% of businesses reported hybrid working during December 2023.[33]
  • Across a global survey of enterprise employees considering telecom-enabled hybrid work, 54% reported some autonomy over their work location and 36% reported total autonomy in 2024.[34]

Upskilling in the telecoms industry

  • 59.4 hours was SK Telecom’s average annual training time per employee in 2024, including non-regular workers.[35]
  • 500 AI Frontier specialists were targeted for team-level AI use by SK Telecom in its 2025 training plan.[35]
  • 789,880 participants took part in SK Telecom training programs in 2024.[35]
  • 63.7 hours was SK Telecom’s average annual training time per employee in 2024, excluding non-regular workers.[35]
  • 1.5 times was SK Telecom’s target increase in AI-development professionals under its 2025 plan.[35]

Employee Engagement in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • At Chunghwa Telecom, 95.15% of surveyed employees identified with and were actively engaged in their work during 2025.[36]
  • At Deutsche Telekom, the Group engagement score was 77 points on a 0–100 scale in 2025, excluding T-Mobile US.[21]
  • At Vodafone, the employee engagement index was 75% in 2025 across the Group.[37]
  • At AT&T, the employee engagement score was 79% in 2025 across its global workforce.[38]
  • At NBN Co, the overall employee engagement score was 77% in June 2024, based on a survey with a 90% participation rate.[39]

DEI in the telecoms industry

  • 5.8% of Deutsche Telekom employees were persons with disabilities in 2024.[21]
  • 72.0% of Deutsche Telekom’s upper-management employees were men at December 31, 2024.[21]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Customer experience in the telecoms industry

  • 63% of global mobile-provider customers said they would purchase more from their provider in 2025.[40]
  • 66% of global mobile-provider customers said they would recommend their provider in 2025.[40]
  • 654 points was the overall U.S. wireless-carrier digital-experience satisfaction score in 2026, on a 1,000-point scale.[41]
  • 58% of surveyed organizations said they were willing to pay a premium for better telecom customer experience in 2025.[42]
  • 659 points was the overall U.S. internet-service-provider digital-experience satisfaction score in 2026, on a 1,000-point scale.[41]

Customer retention in the telecoms industry

  • 61% of UK mobile customers were satisfied with complaints handling in 2024.[43]
  • 1.09% was Verizon's business wireless retail postpaid-phone churn rate in the fourth quarter of 2024.[44]
  • 58% of UK broadband customers were satisfied with complaints handling in 2024.[43]
  • 60% of UK landline customers were satisfied with complaints handling in 2024.[43]
  • 0.89% was Verizon's retail postpaid-phone churn rate in the third quarter of 2024.[44]

Customer acquisition in the telecoms industry

  • 1 million AT&T fiber subscribers were added in 2024, according to Brand Finance's telecoms ranking summary.[45]
  • 4.2 million fixed-wireless-access subscribers were served by Verizon at the end of the third quarter of 2024.[44]
  • 184,000 total postpaid-phone net additions were reported by Verizon in the second quarter of 2026.[44]
  • More than 3 million postpaid-phone net customer additions were recorded by T-Mobile U.S. in 2024.[23]
  • 170,000 net wireless subscribers were added by DISH Network in 2024, excluding government-subsidized subscriber losses.[23]

Customer loyalty in the telecoms industry

  • 73% of consumers identified customer experience as a key driver of loyalty in telecom-related research cited by Deloitte in 2026.[46]
  • 86% of consumers said they were willing to pay more for a better experience in research cited in Deloitte's 2026 telecommunications outlook.[46]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Marketing & Brand quantifies digital engagement and brand value, including $715 billion combined value of the world’s 150 largest telecom brands in 2025.

Marketing in the telecoms industry

  • $600 million was the announced all-cash value of T-Mobile's acquisition of Vistar Media in 2025 to expand its advertising business.[47]
  • 47% of surveyed B2B marketers used digital display advertising for lead generation in the second half of 2024, including telecom marketers in the surveyed B2B market.[48]
  • 63% of surveyed B2B marketers used email marketing for lead generation in the second half of 2024, including telecom marketers in the surveyed B2B market.[48]
  • 49% of surveyed B2B marketers used influencer marketing for lead generation in the second half of 2024, including telecom marketers in the surveyed B2B market.[48]
  • 20.9% was the forecast growth rate for U.S. telecom digital-ad spending in 2024.[49]

Digital marketing in the telecoms industry

  • 659 points was U.S. internet-service-provider digital-experience satisfaction in 2026, on a 1,000-point scale.[41]
  • 63% of surveyed B2B marketers used email marketing for lead generation in the second half of 2024.[48]
  • 23% of Verizon customer purchases were made online in 2024.[47]
  • 654 points was U.S. wireless-carrier digital-experience satisfaction in 2026, on a 1,000-point scale.[41]
  • 61% of surveyed B2B marketers used social media for lead generation in the second half of 2024.[48]

Branding in the telecoms industry

  • $24.4 billion was Spectrum's brand value in 2025, ranking it seventh among global telecom brands.[45]
  • $17.9 billion was Orange's brand value in 2025, ranking it eighth among global telecom brands.[45]
  • $715 billion was the combined value of the world's 150 largest telecom brands in 2025.[50]
  • $47.0 billion was China Mobile's brand value in 2025, ranking it fourth among global telecom brands.[45]
  • $29.5 billion was Xfinity's brand value in 2025, ranking it sixth among global telecom brands.[45]

Influencer Marketing in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • Boost Mobile’s geo-targeted influencer campaign delivered 37% higher omnichannel return on advertising spend in the United States in 2025.[51]
  • Boost Mobile’s New York influencer campaign achieved a 4.3% engagement rate in the United States in 2025, four times the stated industry benchmark.[51]
  • Boost Mobile’s New York influencer campaign produced 1.1 million impressions in the United States in 2025.[51]
  • Plush recorded a 160% increase in post-paid subscription activations after its TikTok influencer campaign in Poland in 2025.[52]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Operations & Execution focuses on procurement and network-operations cost control, with telecom operating-expense-to-revenue at 81% in 2024.

Process optimization in the telecoms industry

  • 1,045 suppliers were registered by SK Telecom in 2024, including 113 Tier 1 significant suppliers.[35]
  • 487 supplier evaluations were completed by Far EasTone Telecom in 2024, covering 92% of its annual procurement value.[53]
  • 41.93 billion New Taiwan dollars was Far EasTone Telecom’s 2024 procurement expenditure, equal to 35.3% of total company spending.[53]
  • 85% of Telefónica’s 2024 awarded procurement volume went to local suppliers in the countries where purchases were made.[54]
  • 5 procurement strategies were used by SK Telecom in 2024 to improve total-cost ownership, process efficiency, risk management and supplier development in South Korea.[35]

Operational efficiency in the telecoms industry

  • 81% was the global telecoms operating-expense-to-revenue ratio in 2024, compared with 84% previously.[20]
  • 15% to 30% energy-cost savings are achievable for telecom operators through combined technology, site, pricing and operational measures.[9]
  • More than 100 million US dollars in annual energy-cost reductions were achieved by a North American telecom operator using an energy-focused digital twin.[9]
  • 38.2 billion US dollars was telecom operators’ network-utilities expenditure in 2024.[20]
  • 40% was the increase in telecom network-utilities expenditure between 2019 and 2024.[20]

Quality management in the telecoms industry

  • 58% of UK broadband customers reported satisfaction with complaint handling in 2024.[43]
  • 31,477 telecom disputes were accepted by the Communications Ombudsman in the United Kingdom in 2024, up 28% from 2023.[55]
  • 8,310 billing disputes were recorded by the United Kingdom Communications Ombudsman in 2024, up 36% year on year.[55]
  • 6,949 service-quality disputes were recorded by the United Kingdom Communications Ombudsman in 2024, up 13% year on year.[55]
  • 7,075 customer-service disputes were recorded by the United Kingdom Communications Ombudsman in 2024, up 61% year on year.[55]

Supply chain in the telecoms industry

  • 75% of Deutsche Telekom’s direct suppliers were classified as low risk for environmental or human-rights risks in 2024.[21]
  • 1,076 suppliers were engaged by Far EasTone Telecom in 2024.[53]
  • 89% of SK Telecom purchases in 2024 came from its 113 Tier 1 significant suppliers.[35]
  • 38 Tier 2 key suppliers were selected by Far EasTone Telecom through its 2024 supplier survey.[53]
  • 1,045 suppliers were registered by SK Telecom in 2024 across equipment, construction, software, solutions and materials categories.[35]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the telecommunications sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across telecommunications, 25% of IT leaders planned to increase outsourcing spend over the following 12 months in the 2018 survey.[30]
  • Across telecommunications, 26% of IT leaders planned to increase onshoring spend over the following 12 months in the 2018 survey.[30]
  • Across telecommunications, 21% of IT leaders planned to increase nearshoring spend over the following 12 months in the 2018 survey.[30]
  • Across European telecommunications, 55% of outsourced services remained domestic, based on EY data covering 2013.[56]
  • Across telecommunications, 17% of IT leaders planned to increase offshoring spend over the following 12 months in the 2018 survey.[30]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Finance & Pricing links unit economics to affordability and margins, including global telecom ARPU at 21.8 US dollars in fiscal 2024.

Pricing strategy in the telecoms industry

  • 21.8 US dollars was the average global telecom ARPU in fiscal year 2024, down 1.5% year on year.[57]
  • 5.4% was Reliance Jio’s ARPU growth in fiscal year 2024.[57]
  • 5.0% was Millicom’s ARPU growth in fiscal year 2024.[57]
  • 46.3 US dollars was T-Mobile’s average ARPU in fiscal year 2024.[57]
  • 11.7% was Bharti Airtel Group’s ARPU growth in fiscal year 2024.[57]

Cost reduction in the telecoms industry

  • 40% was the increase in telecom network-utilities spending between 2019 and 2024.[20]
  • 15% to 30% energy-cost savings are available to telecom operators through holistic network-energy optimization.[9]
  • 800 million to 1.2 billion euros was Nokia’s targeted cost reduction by the end of 2026 after its 2023 restructuring announcement.[58]
  • 38.2 billion US dollars was spent by telecom operators on network utilities in 2024.[20]
  • 35 million pounds in annual savings were reported from Openreach’s AI-powered automation in FY2024.[20]

Profitability in the telecoms industry

  • 43.0 billion euros was Deutsche Telekom’s adjusted EBITDA in 2024.[21]
  • 21.421 billion euros was Deutsche Telekom’s net operating profit after taxes in 2024.[21]
  • 26.3 billion euros was Deutsche Telekom’s operating profit in 2024.[21]
  • 8.5% was Deutsche Telekom’s return on capital employed in 2024.[21]
  • 14.9% was TELUS’s adjusted EBITDA margin in the 2024 financial and operating statistics.[59]

Financial planning in the telecoms industry

  • 19.2 billion euros was Deutsche Telekom’s 2024 free cash flow before dividend payments and spectrum investment.[21]
  • 96.5 billion euros was Deutsche Telekom’s 2024 service revenue.[21]
  • 27.161 billion euros was Telefónica’s net financial debt at the end of 2024.[54]
  • 16.0 billion euros was Deutsche Telekom’s 2024 cash capital expenditure before spectrum investment.[21]
  • 115.8 billion euros was Deutsche Telekom’s 2024 revenue.[21]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Product & Service tracks network evolution and commercialization, with more than 90 service providers launching 5G standalone networks globally by Q2 2026.

Product development in the telecoms industry

  • More than 90 service providers had launched 5G standalone networks globally by the second quarter of 2026.[16]
  • 5G device launches increased by more than 50% year on year in 2024.[60]
  • 145 operators across 63 countries had launched or announced 5G services by the third quarter of 2024.[61]
  • 57 operators had launched 5G services and 88 had announced launch plans by the third quarter of 2024.[61]
  • The global telco API market is forecast to reach $6.7 billion by 2028.[62]

Product lifecycle in the telecoms industry

  • 26.3% of surveyed telecom customer-value-management teams rated device lifecycle management as a top priority in 2025.[63]
  • 3G subscriptions declined by 18 million globally during the second quarter of 2026.[16]
  • 46 service providers had fully switched off 2G services globally by the end of 2025.[16]
  • The number of 5G subscriptions is expected to increase by 1.2 billion globally between the end of 2025 and the end of 2027.[16]
  • 21.1% of surveyed telecom customer-value-management teams rated device lifecycle management as a high priority in 2025.[63]

After-sales in the telecoms industry

  • 69% of consumers preferred a human agent for telecom service disruptions, billing errors or technical problems in late 2024.[42]
  • 66% of consumers preferred a human agent for freezing or cancelling a lost SIM card and ordering a replacement in late 2024.[42]
  • 50% of UK mobile customers reported that their complaint was completely resolved at first contact in 2024.[43]
  • 70% of consumers globally prioritized reliability over speed when evaluating telecom services in late 2024.[42]
  • The average UK mobile customer-service call waiting time was 1 minute 52 seconds in 2024.[43]

Value proposition in the telecoms industry

  • More than 20% of US consumers surveyed would consider buying a mobile plan from a bank in 2024.[64]
  • Nearly 50% of US consumers surveyed would consider buying a mobile plan from a retailer in 2024.[64]
  • 85% of US consumers said cost was the most important factor when considering a mobile provider in 2024.[64]
  • 60% of US consumers ranked speed and performance among the most important factors when selecting a mobile provider in 2026.[65]
  • 79% of US consumers ranked pricing as the most important factor when selecting a mobile provider in 2026.[65]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Sustainability & Ethics is anchored by operational emissions scale, with 115 million tonnes of CO2e emitted by mobile operators’ operations globally in 2024.

Sustainability in the telecoms industry

  • 96% of Vodafone’s non-hazardous network waste was reused, resold or recycled in FY2024.[66]
  • 93% of Vodafone’s purchased electricity came from renewable sources in FY2024.[66]
  • 6,205 tonnes of network waste equipment were generated by Vodafone in FY2024.[66]
  • 115 million tonnes of CO2e were emitted by mobile operators’ operations globally in 2024, equal to about 0.2% of global greenhouse-gas emissions.[67]
  • 337,680 used phones were collected by Vodafone with WWF for refurbishment, reuse, recycling or donation in FY2024.[66]

ESG in the telecoms industry

  • 24 mobile operators covering nearly one-third of global mobile connections participated in GSMA’s ESG benchmarking study in 2024.[11]
  • 7% was the average year-on-year decline in operational emissions reported by participating mobile operators in the 2024 GSMA benchmark.[11]
  • At least 80% of participating mobile operators’ policies covered labour practices, environmental concerns, fair operating procedures, human rights and organisational governance in 2024.[11]
  • 100% of the 24 participating mobile operators disclosed Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in the 2024 GSMA ESG benchmark.[11]

Ethics in the telecoms industry

  • 93.6% of Vodafone employees assigned Doing What’s Right training had completed it by 31 March 2024.[66]
  • 52% of Vodafone Speak Up reports were made by named reporters in FY2024.[66]
  • 13,000 Orange employees were trained through the anti-corruption-risk e-learning programme between 2022 and 2025.[68]
  • 100% of Orange’s Executive Committee signed the company’s ethics and compliance commitment in November 2023.[68]
  • 88,000 Orange–UN Anti-Corruption Visas had been issued since 2018.[68]

CSR in the telecoms industry

  • €2.3 billion was Orange’s dividends paid to shareholders in 2024.[69]
  • €6.3 billion was Orange’s 2024 investment in regions, excluding telecommunication licences.[69]
  • €40.3 billion was Orange’s revenue from customers in 2024.[69]
  • €9.8 billion was Orange’s 2024 payment to employees through wages and employee benefits.[69]
  • €17.9 billion was Orange’s 2024 spending on external purchases and leases from suppliers and partners.[69]

Circular economy in the telecoms industry

  • 630,000 non-reusable fixed-line devices were professionally recycled by Deutsche Telekom Germany in 2024.[21]
  • 215 tonnes of discarded network technology were recycled by Deutsche Telekom Germany in 2024.[21]
  • 1.35 million customer devices were refurbished for reuse by Deutsche Telekom in Germany in 2024.[21]
  • 1.05 million refurbished fixed-line devices were sold or rented by Deutsche Telekom Germany in 2024.[21]
  • More than 9 million mobile phones were taken back across Deutsche Telekom’s group in 2024, representing 29.4% of devices put into circulation.[21]

Carbon footprint in the telecoms industry

  • 398 tonnes of CO2e were avoided through Vodafone’s asset-marketplace platform in FY2024.[66]
  • 133,461 tonnes of CO2e was Orange Wholesale’s audited Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 carbon footprint assessment published in 2024.[70]
  • 0.3% was the estimated share of global energy-related CO2 emissions represented by mobile operators’ operational emissions in 2024.[67]
  • 115 million tonnes of operational CO2e emissions were generated by mobile operators globally in 2024.[67]
  • 0.2% was the estimated share of global greenhouse-gas emissions represented by mobile operators’ operational emissions in 2024.[67]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

Globalization & Expansion links coverage and usage gaps to market access, including 5G covered 54% of the world’s population in 2024.

Globalization in the telecoms industry

  • 5G covered 54% of the world’s population in 2024, equivalent to approximately 4.4 billion people.[11]
  • North America generated 29% of Ericsson’s sales in 2024, the company’s largest reported market-area share.[16]
  • About 40% of new mobile-internet subscribers expected between 2025 and 2030 are projected to come from Asia Pacific.[11]
  • Ericsson’s intellectual-property licensing revenue increased to SEK 14.0 billion in 2024 from SEK 11.1 billion in 2023.[16]
  • 4G covered 93% of the world’s population in 2024, equivalent to almost 7.6 billion people.[11]

Cultural adaptation in the telecoms industry

  • 50% of the Middle East and North Africa’s population used mobile internet in 2024, while 46% lived in the usage gap.[11]
  • 80% of Greater China’s population used mobile internet in 2024, with a 19% usage gap and a 1% coverage gap.[11]
  • Women in low- and middle-income countries were 14% less likely than men to use mobile internet in 2024.[11]
  • 29% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population used mobile internet in 2024, compared with 79% in Europe and North America.[11]
  • Adults in rural areas of low- and middle-income countries were 25% less likely than urban adults to use mobile internet in 2024.[11]

Supplier management in the telecoms industry

  • Three handset suppliers accounted for 85% of Telefónica’s handset-supplier contract awards in 2024.[23]
  • Telefónica identified supplier delivery failures as a risk that could hinder network deployment and expansion plans in 2024.[23]
  • One Telefónica handset supplier represented 46% of the company’s handset-supplier contract awards in 2024.[23]
  • Two of Telefónica’s seven network-infrastructure suppliers were located in China in 2024.[23]
  • Seven IT providers represented 30% of Telefónica’s IT purchases in 2024.[23]

Stakeholder management in the telecoms industry

  • Deutsche Telekom’s customer-satisfaction TRI*M index was 77.6 in 2024.[21]
  • Deutsche Telekom’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions excluding T-Mobile US were 253 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2024.[21]
  • Deutsche Telekom’s employee-engagement score was 76 in 2023, one point below its 2024 score.[21]
  • Deutsche Telekom consumed 11,926 GWh of energy in 2024.[21]
  • Deutsche Telekom’s energy consumption excluding T-Mobile US was 4,514 GWh in 2024.[21]

Distribution channels in the telecoms industry

  • 4.4 billion people, or 54% of the world’s population, owned a smartphone used to access the internet in 2024.[11]
  • More than 90% of people not using mobile internet in 2024 lived in areas already covered by mobile broadband.[11]
  • 16% of mobile-internet subscribers still used a 3G smartphone or feature phone in 2024.[11]
  • Around 200 million people began using mobile internet on their own devices in 2024.[11]
  • 4.7 billion people used mobile internet on their own device in 2024, indicating the scale of operator-led mobile distribution globally.[11]

16 Statistics

Regional markets

Regional markets provide operator-like base data, including 679 million active mobile-broadband subscriptions in the United States in 2024.

The telecoms industry in Japan

  • ¥21.081 trillion was the corporate sales of Japan’s telecommunications industry in fiscal 2022.[79]
  • 40.346 million FTTH subscriptions were recorded in Japan at the end of March 2024.[79]
  • 221.918 million mobile-phone subscriptions were recorded in Japan at the end of March 2024.[79]
  • 92.367 million 5G mobile-phone subscriptions were recorded in Japan at the end of March 2024.[79]
  • 156,399 people were employed in Japan’s telecommunications industry in fiscal 2022.[79]

The telecoms industry in North America

  • 37.7 million mobile-service subscriptions were active in Canada in 2024.[80]
  • $55.5 billion was the total economic output generated by Canada’s mobile telecommunications industry in 2024 under the closed-output model.[80]
  • 94.3% of Canadians had access to 5G mobile networks in 2024.[80]
  • $69.4 billion was the operating revenue of Canada’s telecommunications industry in 2024.[81]

The telecoms industry in South Korea

  • 16.9 million 5G mobile subscribers were held by SK Telecom in South Korea at December 31, 2024.[82]
  • 48.7% was SK Telecom’s share of South Korea’s mobile-phone subscriber market at December 31, 2024, excluding MVNO subscribers.[82]
  • ₩17.941 trillion was SK Telecom’s consolidated operating revenue in 2024.[82]
  • 64.9 million active mobile-broadband subscriptions were recorded in South Korea in 2024.[22]

The telecoms industry in United States

  • 390.990 million mobile voice subscriptions were recorded in the United States in December 2024.[18]
  • 96% of the United States population was covered by at least a 5G mobile network in 2024.[22]
  • 471 million retail voice telephone connections were recorded in the United States in December 2024.[18]
  • 679 million active mobile-broadband subscriptions were recorded in the United States in 2024.[22]
  • 100.153 million U.S. households accessed fixed broadband in 2023, representing 82.8% of households.[18]

The telecoms industry in Brazil

  • 64.94% of Brazil’s population had 5G coverage in December 2025, corresponding to 2,019 municipalities served nationwide.[83]
  • R$196.802 billion was Brazil’s total net telecommunications revenue in 2025, including mobile, fixed telephony, fixed broadband and pay television.[84]
  • 346.9 million telecom access lines were active in Brazil in 2024, covering mobile and fixed telephony, fixed broadband and pay television.[85]
  • 243.7 million mobile-broadband accesses were recorded in Brazil in 2024; 76.5% used 4G, 16.4% used 5G and 7.1% used 3G.[85]
  • 69.8 million 5G accesses were active in Brazil in October 2026, representing 24.9% of the country’s total mobile-access base.[83]

Key questions about the Telecoms Industry

How big is the global telecoms market for mobile operators?
Global mobile operators generated $1.08 trillion in revenue in 2024.
How fast is mobile operator revenue growing to 2030?
GSMA forecasts $1.25 trillion in 2030, implying approximately 2.4% compound annual growth from $1.08 trillion in 2024.
Which companies lead the telecoms industry?
Deutsche Telekom leads Gitnux's 2026 telecoms ranking with an Overall score of 9.0, with €119.1 billion revenue in 2025 and over 273 million mobile customers. América Móvil is the runner-up at 8.9, driven by 22.5% revenue growth and 20.3% operating margin.
What technology shifts are most visible in 2026 reporting?
GSMA notes a transition from 5G rollout to monetisation, while surveyed adoption includes agentic-AI-led automation (76% of operators).
How is the telecoms value chain structured?
The industry is segmented across mobile communications, fixed broadband, enterprise connectivity, infrastructure and digital services.
How do operators measure data timing for network updates?
Across telecommunications, 49% said network-data updates occurred within one week in 2026.
Reference

Cite This Report

This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.

APA
Aisha Okonkwo. (2026, February 13). Telecoms Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/telecoms-industry-statistics
MLA
Aisha Okonkwo. "Telecoms Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/telecoms-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Aisha Okonkwo. 2026. "Telecoms Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/telecoms-industry-statistics.

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