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Tag: infrastructure

Telecoms 2030 Part 3: Pathways to servco, infraco and techco

To avoid becoming pure utilities, telcos must evolve their core businesses into more efficient and flexible infracos. But if they also want to accelerate growth and capture the full value of their network investments, they should strive towards building services businesses and becoming telecom techcos. We explore different pathways leading operators are taking to get there.

Indoor wireless: A new frontier for IoT and 5G

Indoor wireless coverage is essential to many IoT and 5G use-cases, but it’s also horribly difficult to achieve. With new entrants and changing user demands the power dynamics are shifting, and operators need to make strategic decisions now to avoid losing their stake in this market.

How to build an open source telco – and why?

Building a telco based on ‘free’ open source software is theoretically highly attractive to telcos, particularly those looking to increase their control over innovation and differentiation, and/or where cost reduction is critical. This report looks at how to address the challenges, identifies practical options and choices, and how, when and why to go about open source transformation in the real world.

Problem: Telecoms technology inhibits operator business model change (Part 1)

The last few years have seen attempts by many leading telecoms operators to refresh their business model and generate new sources of growth and value. Now many digital initiatives are being scaled back. Telefonica and Telenor, two companies in the vanguard of the ‘drive to digital’ have both disbanded their digital organisations. In the first of two reports, STL Partners explores why efforts to yoke platform and product innovation businesses to a traditional infrastructure business have proved so difficult. The financial and operational constraints associated with traditional telecoms – particularly the need for long investment cycles in ‘one-function’ infrastructure – have made achieving the switch to ‘agile digital innovation’ all but impossible. But all that may be about to change and the future could be a little brighter.

Triple-Play in the USA: Infrastructure Pays Off

Triple-Play in the USA: Infrastructure Pays Off

Verizon and Comcast have invested in high bandwidth fibre and cable networks, whereas AT&T has until recently focused on U-Verse, an IPTV play. Which strategy is winning out and why? The answer is surprising and may transform the US and other markets, and there are parallels with Apple and Samsung’s ‘deep value’ strategies of investing in assets that are hard to replicate.

Customer Experience: Is it Time for the Mobile CDN?

Customer Experience: Is it Time for the Mobile CDN?

Changing consumer behaviours and the transition to 4G are likely to bring about a fresh surge of video traffic on many networks. Fortunately, mobile content delivery networks (CDNs), which should deliver both better customer experience and lower costs, are now potentially an option for carriers using a combination of technical advances and new strategic approaches to network design. This briefing examines why, how, and what operators should do, and includes lessons from Akamai, Level 3, Amazon, and Google. (May 2013, Executive Briefing Service).
CDN Traffic as Percentage of Backbone May 2013

Dealing with the ‘Disruptors’: Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft/Skype and Amazon (Updated Extract)

An extract from our 284 page, 124 chart, strategy report that analyses the business models, markets, objectives, strategies and modus operandi of the major adjacent players, and their current and future impact on the telecoms industry. The report identifies the areas and options for competition and co-operation, and outlines potential strategies for interacting with each player. It also draws the combined activities of the digital empires – telcos, so called ‘OTT players’ and others – into the context of the new ‘Great Game’, the battle for power and value in the emerging digital economy. (Page updated February 2012, report published November 2011, Dealing with Disruption stream) Google Apple Facebook Microsoft Skype Amazon Telco 2.0 Disruptor Report Cover

‘Under-The-Floor’ (UTF) Players: threat or opportunity?

The telecoms industry often puts so-called OTT (over-the-top) players like Google and Facebook at the forefront of its concerns, as they pose new competition for services and applications. But what about encroachment of companies “underneath” the telcos, displacing them from their core asset, the network? Telco 2.0 examines the strategic threats and opportunities from wholesale providers, outsourcers and government-run broadband networks. (January 2012, Executive Briefing Service, Future of the Networks Stream).
UTF Image Jan 2012

Cloud 2.0: What are the Telco Opportunities?

Cloud 2.0: What are the Telco Opportunities?

Telco 2.0’s analysis of operators’ potential role and opportunity in ‘Cloud Services’, a set of new business model opportunities that are still in an early stage of development – although players such as Amazon have already blazed a substantial trail. (December 2010, , Executive Briefing Service, Cloud & Enterprise ICT Stream & Foundation 2.0)