How will telecom carriers be impacted by the global economic conditions?
There are a few news items from the past week that present a variety of perspectives.
According to the Globe and Mail and CTV, Solutions Research Group has a study that indicates that consumers view their mobile phones and internet services as essentials. Canadians will give up other expenses, such as dining out, concerts and movies before dropping these communications expenses.
However, premium cable and residential wireline phone service ranked number 5 and 7 among targets for savings in family budgets, so it isn’t an entirely rosy picture for the major carriers.
Many consumers, with minor exceptions, view these as essential utilities, like water or electricity
Another news item presents a different perspective, examining enterprise purchases of communications services.
Telephony reports that Level 3 believes that its current sales slowdown is disconnected from underlying demand. According to James Crowe, the CEO of Level 3,
We believe this increase in time from identifying an opportunity to the execution of a firm order does not indicate a decrease in demand. If we’re right, you’ll see a one-time decrease [in revenue]. If two months ago, the sales cycle is 60 to 90 days, and now it’s 70 to 100 days, as that filters in, it doesn’t affect the overall demand or pipeline — if we’re accurate.
That is a big “if.”
In its earnings conference call last week, AT&T reported some softness in enterprise voice and data, but said
We continue to deliver high-teens growth in enterprise IP data revenues. Sales flow was solid and a number of major contracts signed in recent months are beginning to ramp.
In his closing comments, AT&T’s CFO Richard Lindner said that in obviously challenging times, he believes it prudent to be conservative, to manage and reduce expenses, and to be disciplined with capital investment and to preserve cash.
With these events as context, we saw Shaw announce that it is not planning to move ahead as quickly as some of the other AWS spectrum holders.
How will other carriers respond to changes in demand for their portfolio of services?