Ericsson Valuation Multiples

Samsung Electronics is a diversified electronics conglomerate that manufactures and sells a wide range of products including smartphones, televisions, home appliances, telecommunications network equipment, as well as electronic and device components such as semiconductors and flat panel displays. Samsung is the world's largest manufacturer of smartphones and televisions as well as memory semiconductor products. The Manufacturing and sale of mobile phones and semiconductors make up >70% of both the company’s revenue as well as its profit.

Cisco Systems is the largest provider of networking equipment in the world and one of the largest software companies in the world. Its largest businesses are selling networking hardware and software (where it has leading market shares) and cybersecurity software such as firewalls. It also has collaboration products, like its Webex suite, and observability tools. It primarily outsources its manufacturing to third parties and has a large sales and marketing staff—25,000 strong across 90 countries. Overall, Cisco employs 80,000 people and sells its products globally.

Foxconn Industrial Internet Co Ltd is engaged in the design, research and development, manufacturing, and sales of various electronic equipment products. The company's main products include communications network equipment, cloud service equipment, precision tools, and industrial robots.

Arista Networks is a networking equipment provider that primarily sells Ethernet switches and software to data centers. Its marquee product is its extensible operating system, or EOS, that runs a single image across every single one of its devices. The firm operates as one reportable segment. It has steadily gained market share since its founding in 2004, with a focus on high-speed applications. Arista counts Microsoft and Meta Platforms as its largest customers and derives roughly three quarters of its sales from North America.

Amphenol is a global supplier of connectors, sensors, and interconnect systems. It holds the second-largest connector market share globally and sells into the automotive, broadband, commercial air, industrial, IT and data communications, military, mobile devices, and mobile networks end markets. Amphenol is diversified geographically, with operations in 40 countries.

Bharti Airtel Ltd is a telecommunications company. The company's segments include Mobile Services India, Mobile Services Africa, Mobile Services South Asia, Airtel Business, Passive Infrastructure Services, Homes Services, Digital TV Services, and others. It generates maximum revenue from the Mobile Services India segment. Mobile Services India services cover voice and data telecom services provided through wireless technology (2G /3G/4G) in India. It includes the captive national long-distance networks, which provide connectivity to the mobile services business in India. It also includes intra-city fibre networks.

Equinix is one of the leading providers of cloud- and carrier-neutral data centers, offering colocation and interconnection services to hyperscalers and businesses. Equinix operates 270 properties in 77 metropolitan areas across 36 countries, serving over 10,000 customers. About 70% of Equinix’s revenue comes from renting physical space, which allows hyperscalers and other clients to store servers, data storage, and networking equipment. The other 30% of revenue is generated primarily through interconnection services (20%) and other managed services (10%).

American Tower owns and operates about 150,000 wireless towers throughout the US, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. It also owns and/or operates 30 data centers in 11 US markets after acquiring CoreSite. On its towers, the company has a very concentrated customer base, with most revenue in each market generated by the top few mobile carriers. The company operates more than 40,000 towers in the US, which accounted for about half of total revenue in 2024. Outside the US, American Tower operates about 47,000 towers in Latin America (dominated by Brazil), 32,000 towers in Europe, and 27,000 towers in Africa. American Tower operates as a REIT.

Eoptolink Technology Inc Ltd is engaged in the research & development, production, and sales of optical modules. The company's main products include point-to-point optical modules; and passive optical network optical modules.

Ciena is a telecommunications equipment provider focused on optical transport technologies, with clients in a number of industries such as communication services providers, web-scale providers, cable operators, government, and large enterprises worldwide. The company provides equipment, software, and services that support transport, switching, aggregation, service delivery, and data traffic management.

Nokia provides telecom equipment and services that are used to build wireless and fixed-line networks. It operates in four segments. The mobile networks segment sells equipment and services to telecom carriers to power public wireless networks. Network infrastructure focuses on fixed-line networks, including switching and routing equipment, optical components, and devices used in fiber-to-the-premises networks. The cloud and network services segment develops software used to operate the core of carrier wireless networks and build private networks for enterprises. Nokia also has a sizable research and patent business, where it licenses technology used by handset providers, consumer electronics firms, and other firms making electronic and Internet of Things products.

Lumentum Holdings Inc is a California-based technology firm. The company provides two types of optical and photonic products: optical components that are used in telecommunications networking equipment, and commercial lasers for manufacturing, inspection, and life-science lab uses. Its segments are Optical Communications and Commercial Lasers. The firm is also expanding into new optical applications, such as 3-D sensing laser diode for consumer electronics. It generates maximum revenue from the OpComms segment. The OpComms segment products include a wide range of components, modules, and subsystems to support customers including carrier networks for access (local), metro (intracity), long-haul, and submarine (undersea) applications.

Fujikura Ltd is a Japan-based company mainly engaged in the manufacturing and sales of telecommunication and other electronics equipment. The company operates through five segments. The Automotive division covers wiring harnesses and electrical components. The Electronics division provides printed wiring boards, electronic wires, connectors, and hard disk components. The Energy division includes power and communication cables, aluminum, and coated wires. The Information and Communication division offers optical fibers, cables, components, equipment, network solutions, and construction services. The Real Estate division engages in leasing. It generates the majority of its revenue from the Information and Communication Business Division segment.

Digital Realty is one of the leading providers of cloud- and carrier-neutral data centers, offering colocation and interconnection services to hyperscalers and large businesses. Digital Realty operates 300 properties in 57 metropolitan areas across 31 countries, serving 5,000 customers. Renting physical space accounts for about 90% of Digital Realty’s revenue. The firm enables hyperscalers and other clients to store servers, data, and networking equipment. The other 10% of revenue is generated primarily through interconnection services (8%) and other fee income (2%).

Motorola Solutions is a leading provider of communications and analytics, primarily serving public safety departments as well as schools, hospitals, and businesses. The bulk of the firm's revenue comes from sales of land mobile radios and radio network infrastructure, but the firm also sells surveillance equipment, dispatch software, and other networking capabilities. Most of Motorola's revenue comes from government agencies, while roughly 25% comes from schools and private businesses. Motorola has customers in over 100 countries and in every state in the United States.

TE Connectivity is the largest electrical connector supplier in the world, supplying interconnect and sensor solutions to the transportation, industrial, and communications markets. With operations in 150 countries and over 500,000 stock-keeping units, TE has a broad portfolio that forms the electrical architecture of its end customers' cutting-edge innovations.

Ubiquiti Inc is a seller of equipment and provides the related software platforms through web stores. The group develops technology platforms for high-capacity distributed Internet access, unified information technology, and consumer electronics for professional, home, and personal use. Its solutions are: high-performance networking technology for enterprises, service providers, and consumers. target the enterprise and service provider markets through a community of service providers, distributors, value-added resellers, webstores, systems integrators, and corporate IT professionals, which it refers to as the Ubiquiti Community. It targets consumers through digital marketing, including through webstores, retail chains, and, to a lesser extent, the Ubiquiti Community.

Prysmian SpA is an Italian manufacturer of electric power transmission and telecommunications cables and systems. Its business is organized in three segments--Projects, which focuses on the execution of underground and submarine cable projects; Energy Products, which provides power distribution, and industrial and network components; and Telecom, which makes cable systems and connectivity products. More than half of the firm's revenue is generated in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions, with the rest coming from North America, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific regions.

Telstra is Australia’s largest telecommunications company, with dominant market shares in voice, mobile, enterprise telecom, and fixed-line broadband resale via the national broadband network. The former government monopoly provides most of its services via its infrastructure assets, such as a fixed-line network (data centers, exchanges, poles, ducts, pits and pipes, fiber network), a mobile network, and mobile towers. Its customers span retail, corporate, government, wholesale, and overseas segments. Telstra also provides the government-owned, last-mile fixed-line National Broadband Network with long-term access to its infrastructure, in return for recurring payments. Finally, Telstra operates a leading telecom operation in Papua New Guinea and the surrounding South-Pacific countries.

Accton Technology Corp develops, manufactures and sells high-quality products for computer network systems and wireless land area network (LAN) hardware and software products and renders related technical consulting and engineering design services. The products and services offered by the company is Switch, Network Application, Metro Access Switch, Other and Wireless.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is an information technology vendor that provides hardware and software to enterprises. Its primary product lines are compute servers, storage arrays, and networking equipment; it also has a high-performance computing business. HPE's stated goal is to be a complete edge-to-cloud company. Its portfolio enables hybrid clouds and hyperconverged infrastructure.

Crown Castle owns or manages roughly 40,000 wireless towers in the United States. It leases space on its towers to wireless service providers, which install equipment to support their wireless networks. The company has a very concentrated customer base, with about 75% of its revenue from the Big Three US mobile carriers: Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. Crown Castle has plans to divest its fiber business, which is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2026. After that, it will be a stand-alone tower operator. Crown Castle operates as a real estate investment trust.

Suzhou TFC Optical Communications Co Ltd is engaged in High-end passive component total solutions and high-speed optical component packaging OEM solutions.

Satellite television provides the bulk of EchoStar’s revenue. The firm serves about 5 million US satellite customers, about 10% of the traditional television market. It also serves 2 million customers under the Sling brand. EchoStar has also amassed an extensive portfolio of spectrum licenses and is building a nationwide wireless network. It acquired Sprint's prepaid business, serving approximately 7 million customers, primarily under the Boost brand. The firm has agreed to sell a portion of its wireless licenses to AT&T and SpaceX, and will rely heavily on the AT&T network to serve customers. EchoStar’s legacy businesses provide satellite telecom services and equipment to businesses and consumers, including about 800,000 internet customers.

Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Ltd Co is engaged in the Chinese communication equipment industry. It manufactures and sells optical fiber preforms, optical fibers with various standard specifications that are widely used in the telecommunications industry. It operates its business through three operating segments, optical fibers and optical fiber preforms; and Optical components and modules, optical fiber cables. The manufacture and sale of optical fiber cables provide the company with majority of its revenue. Its other products comprise of trunk cables, patch cords, plug-and-play modules, optical distribution frames, pigtails, adapter panels, splitters, and connecting cabinets.

MasTec is a leading infrastructure construction company operating mainly in North America across a range of industries. Its primary activities include engineering, building, installing, maintaining, and upgrading communications, oil and gas, utility, renewable energy, and other infrastructure. MasTec reports its results under five segments: communications; clean energy and infrastructure; oil and gas; power delivery; and other.

BT Group is the incumbent telecommunications operator in the UK. BT is the owner of Openreach, the largest fixed-line network in the country. Openreach operates as a separate entity due to regulatory requirements but is still 100% owned by BT. Openreach has accelerated its fiber investments and expects to have 90% of the UK covered with FTTH by 2026. In the consumer division, BT has approximately 30% market share in broadband and mobile services. The enterprise segment serves large corporations while the global services division provides communications consultancy services.

Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd provides fiber optic communication products in China and internationally. It offers optical rods, optical fiber, optical cable, optical devices, an optical network, ocean optical network products, data communication products, power transmission products, ocean engineering, quantum security communications, rail transit, and smart city products.

NVent is a leading global provider of electrical connection and protection solutions that touch a broad range of end markets, including infrastructure, industrial, commercial, and residential. NVent designs, manufactures, markets, installs, and services a portfolio of electrical enclosures and electrical fastening solutions. North America accounts for the majority of sales.

ZTE Corp is a provider of integrated telecommunications and IT solutions with a full range of end-to-end ICT products and solutions integrating design, development, production, sales, and services with a special focus on carriers’ networks, government and corporate business, and consumer business. It operates in three segments Carriers’ network, Consumer Business, and Government and Corporate Business. It generates a majority of its revenue from equipment supporting carriers' networks. It has a presence in the PRC, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. It generates the majority of its revenue from the PRC region.

China Tower Corp Ltd is a telecommunications tower infrastructure service provider. The Company is principally engaged in the construction, maintenance, and operation of base station ancillary facilities such as telecommunications towers, public network coverage in high-speed railways and subways, and large-scale indoor Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS). The business of the company includes Tower business; DAS business; Smart Tower business and Energy business. The Group’s revenue is generated from the Three TSPs.

SBA Communications owns a portfolio of about 45,000 wireless towers throughout North America, South America, and Africa. It leases space on its towers to wireless service providers, who install equipment to support their wireless networks. The company has a very concentrated customer base, with most revenue in each market being generated by the top few mobile carriers. It owns more than 17,000 towers in the US, which account for about 75% of leasing revenue. Internationally, SBA’s largest presence is in Brazil, where it owns roughly 10,000 towers. SBA operates as a real estate investment trust.

Vantage is the tower arm of Vodafone, spun off in 2021. Vantage fully owns 45,000 towers in Germany, Spain, Greece, and other European countries. Vantage also owns stakes in Inwit (22,000 towers, Vantage owns 33% stake), the Italian tower operator resulting from the merger of Vodafone and Telecom Italia’s towers in the region, and Cornerstone (14,000 towers, 50% stake) a tower joint venture in the U.K. with Telefonica.

AST SpaceMobile Inc is a satellite designer and manufacturer. The company is building a cellular broadband network in space to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices, and off-the-shelf mobile phones based on extensive IP and patent portfolio. It has focused on eliminating the connectivity gaps faced by mobile subscribers. The Company's spaceMobile Service is being designed to provide cost-effective, high-speed Cellular Broadband services to end-users who are out of terrestrial cellular coverage using existing mobile devices.

Cellnex owns and operates more than 100,000 wireless towers in Europe, the result of continued merger and acquisition activity since its initial public offering in 2015. It has acquired towers from several European mobile network operators, including Telefonica, Iliad, CK Hutchison, Bouygues, and Altice. Cellnex is present in France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the United Kingdom, among others.

Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology Co Ltd is a China-based company engaged in the manufacturing and distribution of fiber-optic communication and power-transmission products. Its products include power cables, fittings, insulators, arresters, conductors, aluminum-clad steel wires, transformers, and power switch gears; optical fibers, optical fiber cables, coaxial cables, and antennas; and submarine composite and FO cables, submarine cable accessories, and ROV cables. The company also offers marine and offshore cables, lithium-ion batteries, solar cell backsheets, photovoltaic technology products, alloy materials, optical fiber, and optical cable machines.

Huagong Tech Co Ltd produces, sells, and provides technical services for products centered on laser technology, computer software and system integration technology, and PTC technology. The company's main products include laser processing equipment and intelligent manufacturing production lines, laser holographic film series products, optoelectronic device series products, sensitive components, and others.

Suzhou Centec Communications Co Ltd is engaged in research & development, design and sales of Ethernet switching chips and supporting products.

Bizlink Holding Inc is engaged in designing, manufacturing, and selling cable assemblies, connectors, power cords, fiber optical passive components, and computer-peripheral products. The operating segments of the company are the Computing and Transportation segment, Industrial Application segment, Home Appliance segment, and others. The company generates the majority of its revenue from the Computing and Transportation segment. Its geographical segments are the United States, China, Germany, Malaysia, Taiwan, Italy, and Others.

IEIT Systems Co Ltd is a provider of IT infrastructure products, solutions, and services. Its business focuses on three fields: servers, storage, and networks. The company is committed to the innovation of digital technology along with the application and integration of digital worlds with the physical world. It is helping enterprises embark on a path of sustainable development by driving intelligent digital transformation.

Dycom Industries Inc is a provider of specialty contracting services to the telecommunications infrastructure and utility industries throughout the United States. Its operating companies supply telecommunications providers with a comprehensive portfolio of specialty services, including program management; planning; engineering and design; aerial, underground, and wireless construction; maintenance; and fulfillment services and provide underground facility locating services for various utilities, including telecommunications providers, and others. It also provides a range of construction, maintenance, and installation services, including the placement and splicing of fiber, copper, and coaxial cables. It provides services throughout the United States.

Viavi Solutions Inc. is an international provider of network test, monitoring, and assurance solutions to communications service providers, enterprises, network equipment manufacturers, civil government, military and avionics customers. The company also offers high-performance thin-film optical coatings, providing light management solutions to anti-counterfeiting, 3D sensing, electronics, automotive, defense, and instrumentation markets. Its operating segments include Network Enablement, Service Enablement, and Optical Security and Performance Products. Geographically, it derives a majority of its revenue from the United States. Additionally, it manufactures and sells optical filters for 3D sensing products that allow facial recognition security authentication for mobile devices.

Applied Optoelectronics Inc is a provider of fiber-optic networking products, for four networking end-markets; internet data center, CATV, telecom, and FTTH. The Company designs and manufactures a wide range of optical communications products at varying levels of integration, from components, subassemblies, and modules to complete turn-key equipment. Through direct sales personnel, and manufacturing teams in the United States, China, and Taiwan, the company coordinates with customers to determine product design, qualifications, and performance. The Company has manufacturing and research and development facilities located in the U.S., Taiwan, and China.

Ruijie Networks Co Ltd is engaged in the research and development, design and sales of network equipment, network security products and cloud desktop solutions.

Fiberhome Telecommunication Technologies Co Ltd is a China-based company engaged in the manufacture and sales of communication equipment. Its main products include communication system equipment, optical fibers, cables and data networking products, such as the optical networking products, Internet protocol (IP) data products, broadband access products, optical fibers and cable products, wireless communication products and power supplies, as well as the optoelectronic devices. The company mainly distributes its products in domestic and overseas markets.

Indus Towers Ltd Ltd is a telecommunications tower infrastructure service provider. The company deploys, owns, and manages telecom towers and communication structures for mobile operators. The company acquires and builds towers, while also owning and operating telecom towers and related infrastructure. The company generates revenue through a rental fee to tenants of mobile towers. Energy costs such as electricity and fuel charts are usually passed through to tenants. The company generates the vast majority of its revenue in India. The company's assets are located in India and are often ground-based and rooftop towers.

TIM, which is 67%-owned by Telecom Italia, is the third largest wireless carrier in Brazil, with 62 million subscribers, equal to about 23% of the market. The firm owns 49% of I-Systems, an infrastructure partnership that is expanding its network footprint across Brazil. I-Systems can provide broadband service to about 8 million locations, including 6.5 million with fiber, equal to 10%-15% of the country. TIM leases capacity on the venture's network to serve retail broadband customers under the UltraFibra brand, but it has agreed to buy out its joint venture partner in 2026, taking full ownership of these assets. TIM also resells fiber network access from other providers.

CICT Mobile Communication Technology Co Ltd is engaged in the development, application and services of mobile communication technologies. The company’s products include Antenna, RAN, CPE. Its services include Wireless Network Service, Digitization & Intelligent Service, Network Construction, Network Optimization, Digital Talent Empowerment, and Network O&M.