The prospects for long-term capital expenditure remain modest, and the focus of investment is shifting from coverage to capacity.

Redwood City, California, October 6th / PRNewswire / -- A report recently released by Oro Group indicates that global telecommunications capital expenditure increased by about 5% in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year. This organization, which provides market information in the telecommunications, security, networking, and data center industries, stated that this performance at the beginning of the year, which exceeded expectations, continued the downward trend in investment seen in previous years and represented an improvement over the forecasts made at the start of 2026.

The trend in telecommunications equipment remains highly consistent with capital expenditure. Dell The combined revenue of manufacturers of the six telecommunications equipment categories tracked by Oro Group – broadband access, microwave and optical transmission, mobile core networks ( MCN ), wireless access networks ( RAN ), as well as high-end routers and aggregation devices – also increased by approximately 5% year-on-year in the first half of 2026.

Dell ' Oro Group Vice President Stefan Pongratz stated: "The performance in the first half of the year was better than our expectations, but the recent improvements will not substantially change the long-term capital expenditure story. After going through the 5G and fiber investment cycles, operators now have a stronger capacity foundation, and their investment focus is gradually shifting from coverage to capacity, modernization, automation, and efficiency. At the same time, the improvement in operators' revenues helps to reduce the capital intensity ratio, even though network investments remain flat."

More key points from the Telecommunications Capital Expenditure Report for September 2026 include:

• Despite a stronger start in 2026, Dell ' Oro Group has only made very minor adjustments to its long-term forecasts. The institution expects that between 2025 and 2030, the global telecommunications capital expenditure will grow at a compound annual rate of 0% to 1%, reflecting that the investment environment has become more mature following the main 5G and fiber optic coverage cycles.
• Capital intensity peaked at 18% in 2022 and is expected to drop to around 14% in 2028, before experiencing a slight rebound following early 6G investments.
• Telecom equipment revenue is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 2% to 3% between 2025 and 2030, which will be faster than the capital expenditure of communication service providers ( CSP ). Part of this is due to the increased demand from cloud service providers.

About this report

Dell ' Oro Group Telecom Capex Report Provides in-depth coverage of over 50 telecommunications operators, focusing on displaying trends in operator revenue, capital expenditure, and capital intensity. The report provides actual data and 5-year forecasts by operator, region, country (United States, Canada, China, India, Japan, and South Korea), as well as by technology (wireless/wired). To purchase this report, please contact [ email protected ] via email.

Regarding Dell ' Oro Group

Dell Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis of the telecommunications, enterprise networks and security, as well as data center infrastructure markets. The company provides in-depth quantitative and qualitative analysis to assist in making critical, fact-based business decisions. For more information, please call +1.650.622.9400 or visit www.delloro.com.