Telecom accounting
Plain-English guides to the accounting issues telecom companies face, each with a worked example from the industry.
Telecom accounting guides
- Telecom accounting: the key IFRS issues6 minute readTelecom accounting explained: bundled plans and handsets, contract costs, spectrum licences, network assets, site and tower leases, IRUs and KPIs under IFRS.
- Telecom revenue recognition for bundled plans3 minute readTelecom revenue recognition for bundled handset and airtime plans under IFRS 15: allocating by standalone selling price, contract assets and a worked example.
- Handset subsidies and device instalment plans3 minute readHow handset subsidies and device instalment plans are accounted for under IFRS 15: bundled vs separate contracts, financing components, dealers, with examples.
- Dealer commissions and contract costs in telecom3 minute readHow telecom contract costs work under IFRS 15: capitalising dealer and sales commissions, the amortisation period including renewals, impairment and examples.
- Spectrum licences: accounting under IFRS3 minute readHow spectrum licences are accounted for under IAS 38: cost including deferred payments, amortisation from network launch, licence term, and US GAAP differences.
- Tower sale and leaseback deals3 minute readHow telecom tower sale and leaseback deals are accounted for under IFRS 16: whether there is a sale, the right-of-use asset, the partial gain, with an example.
- IFRS 16 for telecom sites, towers and fibre3 minute readHow IFRS 16 applies to telecom leases: tower ground and rooftop sites, tower space, fibre and IRUs, the lease term with renewals, discount rates, and EBITDA.
- Indefeasible rights of use (IRUs)3 minute readHow an indefeasible right of use (IRU) for fibre or capacity is accounted for: lease or service under IFRS 16 or IFRS 15, for buyer and seller, with an example.
- Network assets: components and useful lives3 minute readTelecom network depreciation under IAS 16: components and useful lives for towers, fibre, radio and core equipment, 5G upgrades and legacy network switch-offs.
- Prepaid airtime and breakage3 minute readHow prepaid airtime revenue and breakage work under IFRS 15: contract liabilities, recognising expected unused balances in proportion to usage, and expiry.
- Interconnect and roaming: gross or net3 minute readInterconnect and roaming revenue under IFRS 15: incoming and outgoing interconnect, inbound and outbound roaming, principal or agent, estimates and netting.
- ECL on telecom receivables3 minute readTelecom receivables ECL under IFRS 9: how operators measure credit losses on postpaid bills, device instalments, contract assets and carrier balances.
- Telecom mergers and purchase price allocation3 minute readTelecom merger accounting under IFRS 3: purchase price allocation for spectrum, customer relationships, brands and networks, goodwill, and post-merger issues.
- Site restoration provisions3 minute readHow telecom site restoration provisions work: obligations to remove towers and restore land, inflation, discounting, and changes in estimates.
- Telecom KPIs: ARPU, EBITDA and IFRS 183 minute readTelecom KPIs explained: ARPU, churn, EBITDA, EBITDAaL and capex intensity, how they link to IFRS figures, and IFRS 18 management-defined performance measures.
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About these guides
Each guide starts from an accounting issue telecom companies actually face and works through it with numbers from the industry. 15 of 15 planned guides are published; more are added with every batch.