NetLink NBN Valuation Multiples

China Mobile is not only the largest telecom operator in China by the number of mobile subscribers (1 billion) but also the largest in the world. It has 60% of the total wireless market in China and over 50% of the fixed-line broadband market. The firm has largely rolled out its 5G network, having launched 5G service in late 2019. It is doing some 5G network sharing with China Broadnet at 700 MHz and also resells its 3G/4G/5G network through China Broadnet. Growth is being generated through internet data centers where it has the second-largest network in China and through Cloud Services. The company issued stock on the A-share market in 2022 and completed its first buyback of H-shares.

SoftBank is a Japan-based telecom and e-commerce conglomerate that has expanded mainly through acquisitions, and its key assets include a 40%-owned mobile and fixed broadband telecom operator business in Japan. It also owns 90% of semiconductor chip designer Arm Holdings following the 2023 IPO of this business, and has a vast portfolio of mainly internet- and e-commerce-focused early-stage investments. It is also a general partner of the USD 100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund 1 and sole investor in SoftBank Vision Fund 2, both of which primarily invest in pre-IPO internet and AI companies. Recently, it has begun investing in OpenAI.

Deutsche Telekom merged its T-Mobile USA unit with prepaid specialist MetroPCS in 2013, and that firm merged with Sprint in 2020, creating the second-largest wireless carrier in the US. T-Mobile now serves 86 million postpaid and 26 million prepaid phone customers, equal to around 30% of the US retail wireless market. The firm entered the fixed-wireless broadband market aggressively in 2021 and now serves 8 million residential and business customers with its wireless network. It also serves 1 million fiber broadband customers through joint ventures with fiber network owners. T-Mobile owns a stake in these firms, which provide wholesale access to their networks. In addition, T-Mobile provides wholesale services to wireless resellers.

Wireless services account for 75% of Verizon Communications' total service revenue and nearly all of its operating income. The firm serves about 94 million postpaid and 20 million prepaid phone customers via its nationwide network, making it the largest US wireless carrier. Fixed-line telecom operations include local networks in the Northeast that reach about 30 million homes and businesses, including about 20 million served by the Fios fiber-optic network. Verizon closed its acquisition of Frontier Communications in January, adding networks that reach another 15 million locations, including 9 million with fiber. These networks serve about 11 million broadband customers. Verizon also provides telecom services nationwide to enterprise customers, using a mix of its own and other networks.

The wireless business contributes nearly 70% of AT&T’s revenue. The company is the third-largest US wireless carrier, connecting 74 million postpaid and 17 million prepaid phone customers. Fixed-line enterprise services, which account for about 14% of revenue, include internet access, private networking, security, voice, and wholesale network capacity. Residential services, about 11% of revenue, primarily consist of in-home broadband internet access, serving 15 million customers. AT&T also has a sizable presence in Mexico, with 25 million wireless customers, but this business only accounts for 3% of revenue. The company recently sold its 70% equity stake in satellite television provider DirecTV to its partner, private equity firm TPG.

Deutsche Telekom is Germany's incumbent telecom operator and remains the dominant player in mobile and fixed markets. It also owns a controlling stake in T-Mobile US—one of three primary wireless carriers in the United States—which merged with Sprint in 2020, consolidating the market from four to three operators. Aside from its two core markets, Deutsche Telekom operates in several Central European countries and holds an IT arm (Systems Solutions).

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%).

Comcast is made up of three parts. The core cable business owns networks capable of providing television, internet access, and phone services to 65 million US homes and businesses, or nearly half of the country. The firm provides services to about 47% of the locations in this territory. Comcast acquired NBCUniversal from General Electric in 2011. Following the spinoff of several cable networks, including CNBC, MSNBC, and USA, NBCU now consists of the NBC network, several local NBC affiliates, Bravo, the Peacock streaming platform, Universal Studios, and several theme parks. Finally, Sky, acquired in 2018, is a large television provider in the UK and Italy.

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.

America Movil is the largest telecom carrier in Latin America, serving about 330 million wireless customers across the region. It also provides fixed-line phone, internet access, and television services in most of the countries it serves. Mexico is the firm’s largest market, providing about 35% of service revenue. Movil dominates the Mexican wireless market with about 60% customer share and also serves about half of the country's fixed-line internet access customers. Brazil, its second most important market, provides about 20% of service revenue. Movil sold its low-margin wireless resale business in the US to Verizon in 2021 and now owns a 1.4% stake in the US telecom giant. The firm also holds a 61% stake in Telekom Austria.

China Telecom is the largest fixed-line operator in China, originally covering 21 southern provinces but now operating nationally. It has 200 million broadband customers, and 437 million wireless subscribers, having overtaken China Unicom to become the second-largest wireless operator in China behind China Mobile. The firm is increasing its cross-selling of products and seeing strong growth from industrial digitization services, such as internet data centers and cloud computing. Its internet data center business is already the largest in China and it is expanding overseas.

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.

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.

NTT owns NTT DoCoMo, the largest wireless operator in Japan, with 53 million mobile handset subscribers. It also owns NTT East and NTT West, the two regional incumbent fixed-line operators in Japan, with about 23.6 million broadband lines (around 72% of which are wholesaled). The firm also provides IT and communications systems integration via NTT Communications and NTT Data.

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%).

SoftBank is an established, telecommunications services provider in Japan owning a mobile network with around 50 million mobile customers and 24% market share. It also provides some fixed line services, which are mostly resold so are low margin. The company also owns 32.4% of LY Corp, and SoftBank and LY Corp each own 32% of PayPay so SoftBank consolidates PayPay. SoftBank Group sold 33.5% of SoftBank Corp in an IPO in 2018 and has since sold down further to a 40% holding.

KDDI is Japan's second-largest wireless operator (30% market share), the largest pay-TV operator (53% market share) and the second-largest provider of fibre-to-the-home broadband (12% market share). It has grown through acquisition and is focusing on increasing the number of customers who subscribe to more than one telecommunication service. It is also looking to grow its Life Design business which includes commerce, energy, and finance and had over 53 million Internet of Things connections by the end of June 2025.

Singapore Telecommunications is Singapore's leading telecoms company. It owns extensive wired and wireless networks offering data and voice services to a broad customer base. Singtel's diverse investment portfolio spreads across the region. The firm wholly owns Optus in Australia and minority equity stakes in Airtel (28%) in India; Telkomsel (35%) in Indonesia; Globe Telecom (47%) in the Philippines; and Advanced Information Services (23%) and Intouch (21%) in Thailand. Singtel is majority-owned by the Singapore government.

Saudi Telecom Co offers telecommunications, information and media services that establish, manage, operates and maintains fixed and mobile telecommunication networks and systems to customers. The company manufactures and markets devices, equipment, and components of different telecommunication networks including fixed, moving and special networks, and computer programs and the other intellectual properties. It is also engaged in real estate investment activities. The company principally earns its revenue from airtime usage, messaging, data services, interconnect fees, connection fees and device sales. Its reportable segments include: stc; Channels; Solutions; stc Kuwait; stc Bahrain; Center 3; STC Bank; Sirar; Specialized; iot2; and Other operating segments.

Orange operates fixed-line and wireless businesses in France, where it is the market leader ahead of Iliad, Bouygues, and SFR, thanks to its incumbent position. It also has telecom businesses in Spain (through MasOrange), Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Central Europe (Romania, Slovakia, and Moldova). Around 20% of revenue comes from emerging African markets, where it mainly operates wireless networks, and 20% comes from the enterprise segment, which serves companies with more than 50 employees in France and internationally.

Swisscom is the incumbent telecom operator in Switzerland, with a very high market share in mobile and fixed-line markets. It charges high prices compared with its competitors and other European peers due to the historical stability of the Swiss telecom market and a favorable regulatory environment. In 2024, Swisscom acquired Vodafone Italia in a deal worth EUR 8 billion.

Emirates Telecommunications Group Co PJSC is a telecommunications company. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides telecommunication and consulting services, media services, and equipment to over sixteen countries in Asia and Africa. Etisalat specializes in fixed-line services, voice communication, wireless communication, and data communication services. The majority of the company's revenues profits and assets relates to its operations in the UAE.

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.

Ericsson provides telecom equipment and services that are primarily used to build and operate mobile networks. The firm divides its business into three segments: networks, cloud and software services, and enterprise. Wireless carriers have traditionally been the firm’s primary customers, but it is pushing to cater more to enterprises as well, as both try to take advantage of 5G capabilities and utilize “as-a-service” communications platforms. The company also licenses its patents to handset manufacturers.

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.

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.

Vodafone operates mobile and fixed-line networks and businesses across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Its largest market is Germany, where it is the second mobile operator after Deutsche Telekom and owns two cable network after acquiring Kabel Deutschland in 2013 and Liberty Global Germany in 2019. In the UK Vodafone merger with CK Hutchison in 2024, consolidating the mobile market. It also divested its Spanish and Italian divisions in that same year, given their low returns on invested capital.

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.

Chunghwa Telecom Co Ltd is Taiwan's integrated telecom operator, providing fixed-line, wireless, and Internet and data services. The company segment consists of Consumer Business, Enterprise Business, International Business, and Others. The company generates the majority of its revenue from the Consumer Business segment. The consumer Business segment generates revenue from Mobile services, Fixed-line services, Sales, and others.

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.

China Unicom is the incumbent fixed-line operator in 10 northern Chinese provinces, as well as the third-largest wireless operator nationwide. As of June 2025, it had around 355 million billing wireless customers and over 125 million fixed-line subscribers. China Unicom also has a growing ICT business. We estimate it has the third largest internet data center business in China with 420,000 cabinets and its Cloud Service revenue is also showing strong growth. It has its own 4G network and shares the radio access function with China Telecom for its 5G network.

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.

Telefonica is a telecom operator with presence in Spain (where it is the incumbent operator), the UK, Germany, Brazil, and Latin American countries. The company derives more than 30% of its revenue from Spain, close to 20% from Germany, and 20% from Brazil. Its UK operations are held through a joint venture with Virgin Media. For several years Telefonica has been simplifying its corporate structure by selling noncore assets.

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.

MTN Group Ltd is a mobile telecommunications provider operating across South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Syria, and Sudan. The majority of the company's revenue is earned in South Africa and Nigeria. The company also has a joint venture in Iran. From a product perspective, the majority of its revenue is from voice and data. Other contributors include SMS and sale of devices revenue. MTN also provides enterprise services to small/midsize enterprises and corporate clients. The company owns the mobile infrastructure and data centers. Its segments include Network services, Mobile devices, Inter connect and roaming, Digital and fintech and others.

Telenor is an international provider of telecommunications services. It is the incumbent dominant telecom operator in Norway, and the Norwegian government holds a stake of more than 50% in the firm. Telenor also operates in other Nordic countries like Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, and owns several businesses in Asia. Most of Telenor's operations are mobile businesses, although it also has some fixed-line operations in Nordic European countries.

Bouygues is a family-controlled French conglomerate that comprises a disparate range of assets: construction businesses, a TV network, and a telecom network. It is one of the largest construction companies in France and Europe, with over EUR 45 billion in revenue across the four engineering, procurement, and construction businesses under its ownership, as well as one of the four telecom operators in France.

Telefonica Brasil, known as Vivo, is the largest wireless carrier in Brazil with 102 million customers, which is equal to about 39% market share. The firm is strongest in the postpaid business, where it has 68 million customers, or about 41% share of this market. Wireless services and equipment contribute about 70% of total revenue. Vivo is the incumbent fixed-line telephone operator in Sao Paulo state and also owns an extensive fiber network across the country. The firm provides internet access to 8 million households on this network. The firm also sells pay-TV and phone services to its fixed-line customers. Finally, corporate data and IT services, including cloud computing support, contribute about 9% of total revenue.

BCE provides wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. It is one of the Big Three national wireless carriers, with over 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the incumbent local exchange carrier—the legacy telephone provider—throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provinces: Ontario and Quebec. BCE has a media segment that holds television, radio, and digital media assets. BCE licenses the Canadian rights to HBO Max and Starz.

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.

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.

China Satellite Communications Co Ltd is engaged in the development and management of communication and broadcasting satellite systems; the design and development of satellite ground application systems and related equipment. It also offers technical consulting, engineering design, engineering contracting services related to the satellite business.

China United Network Communications Ltd is a Chinese telecom operator. It operates fixed and mobile communications services, as well as domestic and international communications facilities, a satellite IPLC service, a data communications service, a network access service, value-added telecom services, and system integration services related to information and communications services. The company provides its products to personal & residential customers, small & medium businesses, VIP customers, and international customers.

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.

Telia is the incumbent telecom operator in Sweden. It also operates in Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries. In the past five years, Telia has been narrowing its business focus, divesting businesses in Asia and focusing on its core markets.

KPN is the incumbent telecommunications operator in the Netherlands. It has 40% share of the broadband market and 20% of the postpaid mobile market, with VodafoneZiggo (mobile and fixed) and Odido (mobile) as main competitors. KPN is rolling out fiber to the home in the Netherlands and expects to have most of the country covered by 2026. KPN's management has a cost-conscious mentality, something that has allowed it to grow dividends at midsingle digits over many years.

Telus is one of the Big Three wireless service providers in Canada, with over 10 million mobile phone subscribers nationwide constituting almost 30% of the total market. It is the incumbent local exchange carrier in the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, where it provides internet, television, and landline phone services. It also has a small wireline presence in eastern Quebec. Mostly because of recent acquisitions, more than 20% of Telus’ sales now come from nontelecom businesses, most notably in the international business services, health, security, and agriculture industries. The firm has a 55% economic stake in Telus International.