FCOM vs XTL

FCOMBFidelity MSCI Communication Services Index ETF

XTLCState Street SPDR S&P Telecom ETF

In short

FCOM Communication services without the mega-cap chokehold: FCOM tracks an MSCI index that reaches past the giants into mid and small caps, with 25/50 caps on the biggest names, for 0.08% a year.

XTL Telecom, not "communication services." XTL's index sticks to carriers and the equipment makers behind them, and weights them close to equally, so a small-cap gear supplier can count for as much as a national wireless giant.

Stated mandate

FCOM The fund seeks to track the performance of the MSCI USA IMI Communication Services 25/50 Index.

XTL The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return performance of the S&P Telecom Select Industry Index.

Why people hold it

• FCOM 0.08% a year against a 0.37% median for the group: level with XLC, a hair under VOX.
• About 110 holdings through MSCI's investable market index, so mid and small cap media and telecom names ride along, not just the household giants.
• The index's 25/50 caps limit how heavy any single position can get, a guardrail in a sector where a few names carry most of the weight.
• Running since 2013 in Fidelity's index lineup, and it has tracked its benchmark closely, one of the stronger implementations in its peer group.

• XTL Modified equal weighting spreads about 40 names across large, mid and small caps, so no single carrier dominates the basket.ssga.com
• Pure telecom mandate: alternative carriers, communications equipment, integrated telecom and wireless. No social media or streaming riding along under a sector label.ssga.com
• The 0.35% fee sits just under the median for its communication-services peer group, and below iShares' IYZ at 0.37%.
• Live since 2011, with a record spanning multiple telecom build-out cycles and enough regular trading for ordinary retail-size orders.

Worth knowing

• FCOM Communication services is a narrow slice of the market, and the same handful of search, streaming and telecom giants dominate it however the weights are capped.
• Moderately traded rather than the category's volume leader, so spreads can run wider than at the busiest fund on the shelf.
• Distributions arrive quarterly, and the mandate is sector exposure, not income.

• XTL Broad communication-services rivals XLC, FCOM and VOX charge under 0.10%. The narrower, equal-weighted build costs several times that.
• Equal weighting puts real money into small and mid cap equipment makers, so price swings tend to run wider than a mega-cap carrier basket.ssga.com
• About 40 stocks inside one industry means single-company news lands harder here. Distributions arrive quarterly.

Full FCOM profile⁠

Full XTL profile⁠