Defining the future telco — and what it means for operators and their partners
We analyse the aggressive strategy Telstra has chosen to develop its digital healthcare business – which relies heavily on acquisitions across the whole eHealth value chain – and discuss how this fits into a wider companywide digital strategy, what it will take for Telstra to succeed in this vertical, and what insights other telcos can take away about their own digital health strategies.
The spread of 3G and 4G mobile networks in Africa and developing Asia, together with the growing adoption of low cost smartphones, is helping Facebook, YouTube, Netflix and other global online entertainment platforms gain traction in emerging markets. But some major international telcos, such as Vodafone and MTN, also have well-established and multi-faceted online entertainment offerings in Africa and developing Asia. How robust are these telcos’ entertainment services? Can they fend off the mounting challenge from global Internet players? What is working for Vodafone India and MTN and what needs a rethink?
Becoming a Telco Cloud Service Provider (TCSP) is a new vision for the future of telecoms operators, which promises hugely improved agility, a fundamentally new business model, new services, and new growth. What is this vision, how would it work, and how can it overcome the barriers to change that have thwarted most previous efforts?
To date, discussions of the benefits to telcos of NFV and SDN have mainly focused on reducing operating and capital costs, while the impact on future telco revenues has been somewhat sketchy. In order to fill this gap, this report outlines a comprehensive set of potential new “telco cloud” services, and forecasts associated revenue growth.
For the first time, STL Partners quantifies the customer ‘app experience’ on twenty-seven mobile networks in seven countries. MobiNEX – The Mobile Network Experience Index – benchmarks mobile operators’ network speed and reliability by measuring download speed; average latency; error rate and latency consistency. It’s based on billions of real customer data points provided by our partners Apteligent. Congratulations to the top three performers – Bouygues, Free and Orange (all in France).
Some of the world’s largest telcos see the fast-growing demand for online entertainment as a golden opportunity to shore up their revenues and relevance. BT, Telefónica and Verizon are among the major telcos pumping billions of dollars into building end-to-end entertainment offerings that can compete with those of the major Internet platforms. But how well prepared are telcos to respond to the forces set to disrupt this fast-changing market?
TeliaSonera’s digital partnership with OTT streaming music disruptor Spotify has worked well when other operator music tie-ups have languished. We investigate how the partnership has helped both companies to target new market segments and develop innovative products, with Spotify benefitting from TeliaSonera’s marketing channels and direct investment, and TeliaSonera leveraging both Spotify’s brand association with youth-oriented digital innovation, and the serious stickiness of the Spotify service.
The mantra of MWC 2016 was “5G, the cloud, and the Internet of Things”. We think that, underlying the buzzwords, there is a more profound reality for telcos. This is that they need to encompass many of the learnings and techniques of the IT industry to transform to a new breed of truly agile player. Fast.
5G was one of the dominant topics at MWC 2016, and a key theme was the push by many infrastructure vendors and chipset manufacturers to bring forward the timeline for development of an early version of 5G. Some leading operators are also stepping up to support this vision. Fortunately, the “early 5G” group’s wish-list is relatively simple: it’s about capacity, cost, and carbon dioxide.
What was hot at MWC? We round up the action around cloud, SDN, and NFV – and discuss the impact of open-source.
What was hot at MWC? We round up the action around enterprise IT and the Internet of Things.
In this analysis we examine the background and trajectory of Telefónica’s high-profile NFV program, how it may evolve, and the implications for other operators on or considering the journey.
Free has won market share and customer plaudits alike with its disruptive and original strategy in the French telecoms market. Its parent company Iliad has now developed an ingenious strategy for cloud. Our latest report shows how, and highlights lessons for all operators with ambitions to be more than a ‘pipe’.
As LTE adoption passes 50% in North America and 9% worldwide, we review the operators who did best and worst and draw conclusions for the mass adoption phase of 4G. The analysis provides a valuable template for all players in the 4G race, and has important implications for plans for 5G.
Messaging services are increasingly enabling interactions and transactions between consumers and businesses. Largely pioneered by WeChat in China, the growing integration of digital communications and commerce services looks like a multi-billion dollar boon for Facebook and a major headache for Amazon, eBay and Google. It also poses a strategic dilemma for Apple and telcos: Can they turn their communications apps into shopping channels while championing privacy and security?
In 2014, AT&T launched its Domain 2.0 Programme to virtualise 75% of its network functions by 2020. So how is it going, and what are the lessons for others on the complex journey to the virtualised / agile Telco 2.0 digital vision?
Partnering is a key competence for building telco digital services offerings, but many past attempts have failed. So what does it take to succeed? In this briefing we review viable strategies, key success factors and barriers, and profile the highly effective approach used in AT&T’s Drive Ecosystem.
Our research focuses on how telcos and their partners can embrace industry disruption.
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