In the last 10 years, the major platforms have overtaken the telecommunications operators both in terms of profits and revenues.
Based on Agcom's analysis, the results of the comparison between Amazon, Apple, Facebook / Meta, Google / Alphabet, Microsoft, Netflix, Spotify, Twitter on the one hand and AT&T, British Telecom, China mobile, China Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Iliad, Orange, Swisscom, Telefonica, Tim, Verizon and Vodafone on the other are evident.
In 2012, the aggregate revenues of telcos were more than double those of the platforms (about 800 versus 360 billion dollars).
The difference gradually decreased, up to a substantial equivalence in the years 2018-2019.
Subsequently, the revenues of the digital platforms have progressively exceeded those of the telcos (in 2021, 1,450 billion dollars, compared to approximately 960).
Between 2012 and 2021, the average annual growth of the platforms was 16.8%, a value significantly higher than that recorded by the telcos as a whole (2.1%).
The net profit has gone from 95 to 325 billion dollars for the platforms in the last five accounting years, while that of telcos, with the exception of 2017, always remains below 100 billion.