All posts by Fredrik Jungermann

Why cutting 10% of present actuals risks your business

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Madonna

Don’t get us wrong, cost management is important. Our point is that you should not base your improvement targets on your present actuals.

With targets such as “All functions cut 10% off the costs”, you risk cutting down on the activities that are key to your success. Too. Because you don’t know for sure that they are actually key to your success. Since you haven’t measured it against relevant peers. This year. It risks your business: The negative impact of 10% cost reduction in an activity that is key to your success could easily outweigh the positive impact of a equally large cost reduction in an activity which actually needed to be trimmed.

COVID-19 has raised the bar. In the midst of a global health crisis, telcos are delivering. For many operators, Q3 2020 represents their best EBITDA margin quarter ever. But we need to be honest about why. Many cost reductions have – so far – come almost automatically:

Continue reading Why cutting 10% of present actuals risks your business

40% more gigabytes in spite of the pandemic

But revenue negatively affected: -0.5%

Tefficient’s 28th public analysis on the development and drivers of mobile data ranks 116 operators based on average data usage per SIM, total data traffic and revenue per gigabyte in the first half of 2020.

The data usage per SIM grew for basically every operator. 42% could turn that data usage growth into ARPU growth.

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Equipment sales and bundling: Best practices

Analysis & Go-to-market, 2020

Which are the equipment sales models in mobile and how have they developed over time? Can best practices be spotted when comparing equipment sales and profitability for a large number of mature market operators globally?

Using facts: What outputs are different equipment sales models such as subsidy, instalment, leasing, rental and BYOD generating – and how is an early upgrade promise affecting?

In this project we identified and documented a few operator best practices across different models in different markets.

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Is mobile eating fixed’s lunch?

In our latest mobile data usage and revenue analysis, there are 43 countries. Of these, 27 are European. And among these, about half (13) of the regulators are not just reporting the mobile data traffic but also the fixed broadband traffic.

It allows us to compare the two and answer the question “is mobile eating fixed’s lunch?”

Split between mobile and fixed data traffic – Austria (#1 in mobile share) and the UK (#13)
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ARPU doesn’t follow usage upwards. If we can’t monetise gigabytes, then what?

Tefficient’s 27th public analysis of the development and drivers of mobile data compares 44 countries from all regions of the world. We say hello to the new additions Chile, New Zealand and Qatar.

Usage is growing in every single country, but few are able to turn this into ARPU growth. Too few.

Continue reading ARPU doesn’t follow usage upwards. If we can’t monetise gigabytes, then what?

European FMC propositions and outcome

Analysis & Go-to-market, 2020

How have operators introduced fixed-mobile convergent plans in Europe’s most advanced markets France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands – and in emerging FMC markets like the UK and Sweden? How – and how quickly – did competition react?

Using facts: What is the take-up of these FMC plans? How have the FMC introductions affected mobile and fixed market share, customer churn, acquisition & retention cost, demand for fibre and TV – and revenue and margin?

How do you avoid making FMC a discount-centric thing? How have the best FMC propositions been put together and how have they been marketed? Is there a way to leverage content and exclusivity?

Is 5G changing FMC?

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Nordic operator benchmark 2020

Reference: Benchmarks, 2020

For the eighth consecutive year: Comprehensive business benchmark with 890 KPIs covering revenue, OPEX, CAPEX, headcount productivity, subscriptions & channels, performance, load, quality and innovation & growth – for 54 functions of mobile, fixed/cable and integrated operators.

Peer group data exclusively from Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and Danish operators. Due to pre-agreed confidentiality requirements, participating operators are anonymous (and of course their data).

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The gig economy: 58% more gigabytes generated 0.4% more revenue

5G monetisation lessons from China and Korea

Tefficient’s 26th public analysis on the development and drivers of mobile data ranks 105 operators based on average data usage per SIM, total data traffic and revenue per gigabyte in 2019.

Continue reading The gig economy: 58% more gigabytes generated 0.4% more revenue

Nine months with 5G: 4.7 million subs – each using 27 GB per month

Lobbyists coined the term “the race to 5G”. If there ever was such a race, South Korea won it as unlike other markets there are – read on – many reported numbers to support a leadership claim. With 4.7 million 5G subscriptions by the end of 2019, 7% of Korea’s mobile subscribers used 5G just nine months after launch.

LG U+ site with Huawei 5G gear on the Namsan park above Seoul (photo: Fredrik Jungermann)

The subscriber take-up has been fast, but not linear. In August, September and October, when Samsung launched three new 5G smartphones (Note 10, A90 and Fold) and LG updated its V50 smartphone, 5G sales was exceptionally fast. During November and December no new smartphones were introduced and South Korea missed the expectation of 5 million 5G subscribers by year end 2019.

5G subscriber base per month since launch 5th of April (source data: MSIT)
Continue reading Nine months with 5G: 4.7 million subs – each using 27 GB per month