Global Telecommunications Capital Expenditure Expected to Decrease by 2026

According to a recent report released by Dell’Oro Group, global telecommunications investment will remain stable in 2025. Preliminary estimates indicate that the telecommunications capital expenditures (in nominal US dollars) of approximately 50 service providers covered by the Telecommunications Capital Expenditure Report remain unchanged, accounting for approximately 80% of global capital expenditures.

This means that the relationship between capital expenditures and telecommunications equipment revenue in the six projects tracked by Dell’Oro Group (broadband access, microwave and optical transmission, mobile core network, wireless access network, service provider routers and switches) remains stable. It should be noted that the revenue of equipment manufacturers increased by 4% year-on-year in 2025. The growth in equipment is slightly higher than the growth in capital expenditures, which can be partly explained by the push from cloud providers. We estimate that cloud providers account for approximately half of the device revenue growth.

“We are seeing an interesting dynamic between long-term optimism and short-term visibility, “said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President of Dell’Oro Group.” Operators remain optimistic about the long-term network outlook, especially with new demand brought by artificial intelligence, but in the short term, they are adopting a more cautious attitude, and many operators plan to control capital expenditures.”

Other key points of the March 2026 Telecommunications Capital Expenditure Report

Global telecommunications capital expenditures are expected to decrease by 2% in 2026 and grow at a compound annual growth rate of 1% before 2030.

Due to the expected moderate growth in operator revenue (at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 2%), the ratio of capital expenditure to revenue is expected to approach 14% by 2029.

The wireless capital intensity is expected to approach 11% by 2029, a decrease of 7 percentage points from the peak period of 5G.