Telecom executives are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel--and apparently don't anticipate an oncoming train. According to a national survey of wireline and wireless company executives, 67% of executives in telecom companies expect revenue growth in 2005.

That made the telecom sector the most optimistic of the eight covered in the survey of more than 250 operating and line executives in the United States conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of Celerant Consulting, a global firm focusing on operational performance.

Bill Jeffrey, president of Celerant's Americas business, interpreted the results to mean that telecom executives believe brutal price competition is ending.

Three percent of telecom executives surveyed by Celerant believe their revenues will decline, while 23% think their sales will be flat relative to 2004. Seven percent said they don't know how revenues will behave this year.

The second most optimistic group of executives work in managed healthcare, where 63% expect an increase in revenues. Sixty-one percent of retail execs, 57% of chemical company executives and 53% of both consumer products and oil& gas company executives expect an increase in revenues.

In the "half-empty glass" camp were manufacturing execs, only 45% of whom expect increased revenues in 2005, and life science executives, a group that includes pharmaceutical companies. Only 43% of the latter group are forecasting higher revenues.