Top-10 Telecom Operators in the World in 2002


Stuttgart, Germany - 8th December 2003 - The largest telecom group at World level is NTT, the Japanese incumbent, holding about 8% of the World telecom market, with about €72bn revenues for the year 2002. NTT achieves this top position mainly thanks to its home market, since it has otherwise relatively few interests outside Japan. Well behind, with revenues about 24% lower, is the US concern Verizon, holding about 6% of the World market in 2002. In third position, SBC, another US operator follows. Ranking fourth we find the Chinese state operators under the umbrella of MII China (including China Mobile Hong-Kong, China Telecom etc.), testifying the size of the Chinese telecom market at World level, since these operators have practically no foreign operations. The German group Deutsche Telekom, the largest telecom concern in Europe, completes the Top-5. AT&T, in the sixth position, has recently held talks for a possible merger with Bell South, and this merger, although put on ice for the moment, could result into one of the largest telecom concern of the World, on a par with Verizon. Then comes the global mobile group Vodafone in seventh place, followed by France Telecom, the second largest telecom operator after Deutsche Telekom in Europe. The Italian operator Telecom Italia and the US operator Sprint close the ranking, each with a market share of under 3%. All together, the Top-10 largest telecom groups control about 45% of the World market, illustrating that the telecom service industry is still relatively concentrated. The Top-10 includes two Asian companies, four European companies and four US companies.

This market outlook comes from the 2003 Teleseeq Yearbook, InfoCom's annual publication that provides regional trends, 2002 market shares, global positioning, historic indicators, and forecast over a five years for the main global markets. The Yearbook comprises two main sections: the service industry and the equipment industry.

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