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.
The traditional “moat-building” business model adopted by telcos is no longer viable. If telcos are to compete with internet giants in 2030, they must fundamentally change as organisations. Part 1 of our Telecoms 2030 series outlines this need for change, providing three possible business models for the telco of 2030 – Servco, Infraco and Techco.
Telcos are getting moving with cloud-native. We have asked executives at seven such telcos about the process and what it has meant for their organisations, skills requirements and ways of working.
The first commercial deployments of open RAN networks have been announced. But operators are unsure whether to deploy quickly for first-mover advantage or play it safe and wait for more proof points. We explore the causes of open RAN inertia and how operators can get deployments back on track.
Telco cloud came with the promise of agility and returns. Our latest in-depth research examines the evidence, why telcos still believe it will deliver, and what needs to be done to achieve that.
Since we first published this report in 2019, telcos have made significant investments in 5G, but value continues to shift towards service differentiators. Transformation remains at the heart of most telecoms operators’ strategies but change has been painfully slow. This report explains why agility and innovation – the goals of transformation – will remain elusive until CFOs adopt new resource allocation models at their organisations.
Many telcos have visited the Valley in search of new and “open” innovation opportunities, but the returns often seem fleeting. We talked with a 20-year veteran of the circuit to understand why, and what needs to change if they are to embed and operationalise such innovation.
As connectivity has become commoditised, launching new network technology can no longer be relied upon to generate operator growth. This report outlines eight guiding principles for operators seeking to move beyond connectivity into tailored vertical solutions.
Finnish telco, Elisa, repeatedly achieves surprising wins with innovative new propositions. For example, it now sells Elisa Automate, its fully automated Network Operations Centre (NOC), to other telcos. Most telcos buy their NOCs from vendors. How does this relatively small telco punch so much above its weight? At the heart of the answer is a Finnish word which cannot directly be translated to English: sisu.
Transformation lies at the heart of most telecoms operators’ strategies but change at companies is painfully slow. This report explains why agility and innovation – the goals of transformation – will remain elusive until CFOs adopt new resource allocation models at their organisations.
Recently, Orange passed 22 million homes, Telefónica 20 million, and AT&T is now reaching five million more every year. The Chinese have over 300 million FTTH connections. What does FTTH do for ARPU, churn, OPEX and 5G that makes it so compelling?
Passive network sharing is a well-established practice, but 5G may force telcos to consider more active network sharing to overcome financial,
technological and physical constraints. We explore 5G network sharing options and cost structures, drawing lessons from existing agreements.
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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.
STL Partners’ industry transformation analysis, including a recent global survey of telco executives, suggests operators’ digital ambitions are rising fast but, given 9 substantial implementation challenges, too little is currently being done to engender successful industry-wide business model transformation. We also look at the lessons from NTT DoCoMo, one of the operators that has made the most overall progress towards a ‘digital’ model.