Telecom M&A Trends Report: Bigger Deals, Greater Focus on Scale

Global telecom mergers and acquisitions announced in the first half of 2025 are valued at $63 billion, according to a new telecom M&A trends report from Bain & Company. That’s an increase of 44% over the same period in 2024.

The vast majority (90%) of the $63 billion came from deals involving the Americas.

A relatively small number of high-value deals drove the increase in the total value of the telecom deals. Of the 35 deals announced in the first half of 2025, the top five represent more than 80% of the total value.

“Telcos are acquiring companies to gain scale and expand reach, especially in the U.S. (e.g., the Charter-Cox Communications and AT&T-Lumen Technologies deals),” Bain & Company said in a press release.

Scale-driven deals represented 70% of global deal value this year, up from 38% in the first half of last year, according to Bain & Company.

At $34.5 billion, the Charter-Cox deal had the highest value of all 35 deals, accounting for more than half of global value so far this year.

Although the Bain & Company blog post about telecom M&A doesn’t discuss why telecom companies are seeking greater scale, a key reason may be the wireless and home internet bundle. Telecom and broadband providers have seen higher average revenue and less churn for customers who purchase the new killer bundle.

No provider can offer the killer bundle nationwide, but some are getting closer. Deals like Charter-Cox and AT&T-Lumen, as well as the Verizon-Frontier deal announced in 2024, bring the acquiring company closer to nationwide nirvana.

Source: Telecom M&A: Here Are the Latest Deal Trends Worldwide

Earlier this year, Bain & Company noted that relaxed regulations and lower interest rates should also help fuel telecom M&A.

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