Telecom companies are expected to spend US$2 trillion on capital projects between 2014 and 2019¹, as they face up to the challenge of technology change, an insatiable demand for data, and intense competition from existing and new players. 

This will drive considerable investment into next generation technologies, new markets, innovative products and services, strategic alliances and fresh business models. Capital management in this environment requires the right mix of investments to maximize long-term shareholder value, by ensuring that expenditures are aligned to strategy and market demand. 

In this survey, KPMG:

• explores how telecom businesses manage their capital resources
• provides insights on leading practices and emerging trends
• compares practices to other capital-intensive industries (mining, utilities and construction)
• identifies opportunities to develop practices within your organization.

KPMG’s 2015 survey of leading practices and emerging trends

KPMG surveyed some of the world’s leading telecom companies from Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Americas to determine how effectively they are managing capital investments. These findings are assessed against current perceptions of leading practice in capital management, and are augmented by the informed views of KPMG sector specialists and academic experts.

Although we found that governance and capital planning were generally strong and CFO-led, and capital was generally prioritized for strategically important investments, there were a number of areas for improvement:

• a minority align capital management performance with executive incentives
• most take more than 3 months to complete a capital plan
• many lack investment agility and do not have capital contingency funds
• less than half of business cases include non-financial hurdles
• there was insufficient rigor in assessing non-strategic or poor-performing projects, which consume scarce capital
• few carry out fully independent, post-implementation reviews.

Capital Management Framework

Our survey assesses leading practices and emerging trends across the six key areas of capital management:

• Governance
• Capital planning
• Investment appraisal and prioritization
• Capital allocation
• Investment performance
• Capital recycling

Footnote:

¹Communications Service Provider Revenue & Capex Forecast: 2014‒19, Ovum, 2014.