The telecommunications industry has faced new demands and lost revenue due to Covid-19, a new report finds.
Photo: Alexander Yakimov Nickolaevich/ 123rf
A report by technology research firm IDC said the pandemic left the industry scrambling to provide conferencing and collaboration tools, increased security and connectivity services, and facing an urgent demand for contactless services.
The virus had also dented income streams, particularly roaming and prepay revenue, and handset sales.
The drop in revenue had cut into resources available to invest in the rollout of the 5G mobile network.
The report said the launch of Sky TV's broadband services in the next few months was expected to take a further bite out of the industry's revenue, with increased competition for customers.
"The time is right for a competitor to make a big play, while others might still be scrambling to build resiliency or taking a conservative 'wait-and-see' approach," the report said.