< The 2016 All-Asia Research Team

Total appearances: 9

Team debut: 1997

Deutsche Bank’s regional telecommunications team marks its first top-three appearance since 2011, before leader Peter Milliken joined the firm. That was in August 2013, and last year he and Alan Hellawell steered the group to runner-up. Milliken, 47, has been based in Hong Kong since 1994, spending time on both the sell and buy sides — including stints at Lehman Brothers, DBS Vickers Securities and Thaddeus Capital Management — before signing on with Deutsche. He graduated from New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington with a bachelor’s degree in economics. His nine-strong crew, whose members work from offices throughout the region, reports on 42 names in this space and earns plaudits from one portfolio manager for providing “proactive research into topics and developments relating to the sector.” The researchers are forecasting a large rally this year and next, “as the market focus moves from network ramp-up costs to 3G and 4G monetization,” says Milliken. Considering that shift, they are advising investors to “switch from high-payout telcos into higher-growth market leaders, as valuations are attractive on a historical basis.” In China, the group projects, service providers should benefit from an apparently “less aggressive” government approach to mandating price cuts, he adds, as well as potential relief on the value-added-tax front. Finally, the analysts anticipate that growth in India, Indonesia and the Philippines will be bolstered by excellent demographic trends and relatively low legacy revenue bases that set the stage for data-led expansion.