As telcos move beyond connectivity, platform strategies are becoming a key route to growth. This report looks at how operators are approaching the shift, and the underlying capabilities and organisational traits that are shaping success across the industry.

Introduction

We have analysed 70 enterprise platforms across 22 operators

This report focuses on enterprise platforms, and in some cases consumer ecosystems where there is a clear two-sided monetisation model involving enterprises.

It does not include:

• Initiatives that are not sufficiently platform-like and remain primarily service-led, especially those built around a managed services model
• Basic SD-WAN and SASE offers that do not extend into NaaS, as these are now largely table stakes and often amount to resale of a partner platform
• Pure-play edge/MEC, private networks and satellite connectivity offers, which are covered elsewhere in STL Partners’ research and treated here more as indicators of platform readiness

Our assessment uses publicly available materials: websites, annual reports or investor relations presentation. As a result, lower scores may sometimes reflect a lack of public evidence, rather than the absence of activity.

The platform score only describes how much it resembles a digital platform. It is not a value judgement on the quality or success of this implementation, nor does it imply that a platform approach is always the right strategy.

This report can be used to:

• Benchmark against similar operators and draw inspiration from peers pursuing comparable strategies.
• Identify common traits that can strengthen platform execution, from service design, revenue model and ecosystem development to the underlying foundation and mindset needed to support platform growth.
• Assess whether foundation and mindset scores align with telcos internal priorities.

Platform models can drive enterprise revenue growth

Source: STL Partners

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Table of contents

• Executive summary
• Telco as a platform index
  • The framework
  • Building platform readiness
  • Executing platforms
• Company and platform profiles

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