Cost-cutting measures have made the telecommunications industry more productive, but the industry still lacks leadership

Telecommunications firms are not doing enough to develop sustainable business plans, but they do have the highest productivity levels among all industries. These seemingly disparate findings come from two separate surveys. One, by professional services firm Ernst & Young, and called Breaking Away: Leading the Telecommunications Turnaround, finds that investors, analysts and bankers believe telcos are not doing enough to clean up their act since the heady days of the late nineties.

While debt reduction is lauded, these financial stakeholders believe companies need to do more to improve long-term cash flows. One respondent says telcos have done nothing "but cut capex".