Chart of the Day: Telcos' wireless revenues fall amidst new players' entry

New players created $77m wireless revenue in 2017, denting those of Singtel, StarHub, and M1.

This chart from Maybank Kim Eng shows that, in terms of wireless revenue, the large telcos have been making way for new players since 2014.

With the entry of TPG Telecom into the fray, the chart indicated that new players made $77m of revenue. In 2018, Maybank KE expects this to grow further at $115m.

Singtel's revenue has fallen from $2.09b in 2016 to $1.98b in 2017. Maybank KE expects revenue to go down further to $1.91b in 2018.

StarHub's wireless revenue also fell from $1.22b in 2016 to $1.2b in 2017. The broker expects this to fall even further in 2018 to $1.17b.

M1 has also been suffering blows. Whilst revenue rose from $640m in 2016 to $643m in 2017, on a longer-term basis, it has been in a decline since 2014 ($671m). Maybank KE expects this to slide down further to $629m in 2018.

A more observable pattern is the decline of total revenue from $4b in 2014 to $3.89b in 2017. With the intensifying price war amongst competitors, margins and revenue across telco businesses have gone down.