Table1: Money-making machines
Top 10 mobile cellular operators, ranked by equity-based global subscribers, 1998
Rank |
Mobile operator (headquarters) |
Subscribers (000s)(1) |
Revenue (US$ m) |
Pre-tax profit (US$ m) |
Profit / revenue |
1 |
NTT DoCoMo (Japan) |
23'897 |
26'163 |
2'939 |
11.2% |
2 |
TIM (Italy) |
14'299 |
7'169 |
2'564 |
35.8% |
3 |
AirTouch (USA) (2) |
14'072 |
5'181 |
1'041 |
20.1% |
4 |
Vodafone (UK) (2) |
10'445 |
5'417 |
1'508 |
27.8% |
5 |
BAM (USA) |
8'600 |
3'798 |
343 |
9.0% |
6 |
BellSouth (USA) (3) |
8'235 |
4'725 |
524 |
11.1% |
7 |
AT&T (USA) (4) |
7'198 |
5'406 |
118 |
2.2% |
8 |
SBC (USA) |
6'851 |
4'184 |
490 |
11.7% |
9 |
China Telecom (Hongkong SAR)
(5) |
6'531 |
3'182 |
1'134 |
35.6% |
10 |
Omnitel (Italy) |
6'190 |
2'792 |
505 |
18.1% |
|
Top 10 |
16'318 |
68'016 |
11'167 |
16.4% |
Note: (1) Consolidated worldwide subscribers (equity-based). (2) AirTouch and Vodafone merged in July 1999. (3) Revenue and profit refer to domestic wireless and international operations. (4) Profit refers to EBIT (Earnings before interest and taxes). (5) Subsidiary of China Telecom and holding company for three operators on the mainland.
Source: ITU Public Telecommunication Operators Database, PTO annual reports. |