COVID-19 scenarios for telecoms operator service revenue: worldwide forecasts 2019–2024
07 May 2020 | Research
Hilary Bailey Catherine Hammond Julia Martusewicz-Kulinska Martin Scott Stephen Sale Stephen Wilson Rupert Wood Michele Mackenzie
Forecast report | PPTX and PDF (18 slides); Excel | Fixed Broadband Services| Digital Services| Mobile Services| Operator Investment Strategies| Global Telecoms Data| The Middle East and Africa| Asia–Pacific| European Core Forecasts| SME Strategies| Video, Gaming and Entertainment| Large Enterprise Voice and Data Connectivity| Large Enterprise Emerging Service Opportunities| Americas
This report examines the range of outcomes for operators’ telecoms service revenue in eight geographical regions worldwide. The report explores the economic impact that COVID-19 may have on 10 different components of operator service revenue using three scenarios: mild, moderate and severe.
This report answers the following questions.
- Which regions will be affected most severely by COVID-19 in terms of telecoms operator service revenue?
- Which services will be impacted most severely by the global pandemic?
- How long will it take for revenue to return to pre-COVID-19 levels (if at all)?
- Will any services benefit from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Methodology
- We built three scenarios around different GDP forecasts based on third-party data: mild, moderate and severe.
- We broke telecoms operator revenue into 10 component services, each of which will respond differently to the COVID-19 pandemic:
- residential mobile
- residential fixed
- business mobile
- business fixed
- business ICT
- video
- mobile IoT
- digital economy
- mobile wholesale
- fixed wholesale.
- We quantified the impact of each scenario on telecoms operator service revenue. These forecasts explore the impact on usage, the subscriber base, average spending and other areas.

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Insights into how COVID-19 will impact the TMT industry and how to navigate the challenges
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