Canadian Communications Service Provider Capex Spending, 2023–2024 — Lowest Capital Intensity in 14 Years

Canadian Communications Service Provider Capex Spending, 2023–2024 — Lowest Capital Intensity in 14 Years

This IDC Market Perspective updates IDC Canada's previous 2023 capital expenditures (capex) report and provides our 2024 capex budget forecasts for Canada's major communications service providers (including cable television providers) as well as comparative data for the past decade. After a post-2020 expansion of capex spending, Canadian communication service providers will be reducing capex investments for the second year in a row, reaching a 14-year low of 20% in capital intensity in 2024. The top 3 Canadian communications service providers by capex spend — Bell, Rogers, and TELUS — are expected to hold a combined 84.3% share of all capex in the Canadian communications service provider market for 2024. The decisions they make on their capital investment budgets largely determine the movement of capex spending for the entire market. "Total capex investment is dropping for a second year in a row in the Canadian communications service provider market," say Praveen Datta, research director, Canadian Communications Services at IDC. "Despite this total decline, we expect growth to continue for wireless capex in 2024 as providers continue their 5G investments with a noticeable pullback in wireline capex after a sustained period of significant fibre optic network expansion."

Please Note: Extended description available upon request.