EBITDA is a Hell of a Drug

EBITDA is telco’s narcotic of choice: fat margins on paper, but a brutal comedown when the cash runs dry.

EBITDA is a hell of a drug.
It gives telcos the high they crave: fat 30–40% margins, glowing quarterly slides, and a quick fix for investors who want simple numbers. On paper, it makes a utility business look like a tech giant. But just like any drug, the comedown is brutal. Taxes, interest, spectrum payments, and billions in CAPEX don’t disappear because you excluded them from your favorite metric. They wait at the bottom of the income statement, ready to turn those “healthy” margins into razor-thin cash flow.