Happy days are here again

The supreme buddha of the global telecom analyst community must surely be Paul Budde. His Oz-based website, while a bit of a dog’s breakfast to look at, is full of great wisdom on all things telecom. This week, for example Budde has written that around the world, “the telecoms industry is reaching new heights.”

I had a look and it’s true, ATT’s first quarter EPS was up 21.6% and Verizon’s was up a cheerful 17.4%. On the other side of the pond, BT’s numbers are also bright and, of course, its hard to keep track of the money pouring into Middle East, Asian and even African operators. In Europe, however, DT is still struggling, Vodafone’s numbers - well you don’t want to look. France Telecom is making money but its debt levels are still sky-high and its margins halved last year.

Budde says the divide is between companies that are launching into web-based services and those peddling proprietary-based broadband offerings. While IPTV is struggling in most parts of the world, he points out, web-based video is taking off in just about every country with a PC. Budde reckons that web-based video services (think YouTube) are already taking up more than one third of all global broadband capacity.

Telcos who want to see healthy profits again need to sit at the feet of Paul Budde and contemplate breaking down the walls around their proprietary gardens.