Over the past 10 to 20 years, European telecoms operators have sought the industry’s emerging market holy trinity: big populations, low mobile penetration, and affordable assets. That could be about to change.

Vincent Le Stradic, head of European telecom and technology at Lazard, said: "For those that have entered these markets, the reality has been a tough experience in many cases, and we expect to see some of the big players to exit south-east Asia, Latin America and Africa in the year ahead on a case-by-case basis."