Strong U.S. Dollar Could Affect Telecom CAPEX  

A new report from the Dell’Oro Group speculated that due to the U.S. dollar strengthening, $20 billion in telecom capex could be wiped out during 2015. The research team noted that telecom operators around the world invested heavily in their fiber and LTE networks during 2014 resulting in a fourth consecutive year of capex growth as advancements in mobile related spending offset declining wireline investments. “We have not made any major changes to our constant currency capex projections for 2015 and continue to expect the market will grow at a low-single-digit pace in 2015 driven primarily by China and Europe,” said Stefan Pongratz, Dell’Oro Group Carrier Analyst. “But in U.S. Dollar terms, assuming rates remain at current levels, the strengthening U.S. Dollar will unequivocally impact telecom capex, and we have revised our 2015 capex in U.S. Dollar terms downward rather significantly to adjust for currency fluctuations,” continued Pongratz.