Telco innovation: Why it is broken and how to fix it
Successful innovation for telcos is important but has proved elusive. We look at some successes and more failures to draw out the common factors required for innovation to succeed.
Tag Archives: Strategy
How the Coordination Age changes the game
Telecoms is moving into its third age: the Coordination Age. Why was it so hard for telcos to adapt when content shifted from the physical to the virtual world with the growth of the Internet, and how can they learn from past experience to create new value in the next seismic change in telecoms and content?
5G: The first three years
After considerable hype and uncertainty, the near term developments for 5G are now much more apparent, including which nations will go first, chip and handset availability, and the use of different spectrum bands.
The Coordination Age: A third age of telecoms
The global digital economy is moving into a new age: The Coordination Age. A global need to improve the efficiency of resource utilisation is manifesting in industries and individuals as a desire to “make the world work better”. What role can telcos play in this, and will that ultimately mean the break-up of the telco as we know it?
Creating a healthy culture
Strategy is shaped and constrained by company culture, and a company’s culture will negate a strategy if they are not complementary. We examine how TELUS Health has created and maintained an effective culture that has helped to deliver employee and customer engagement, and business results. How does it do it, and what should others learn?
Telco M&A strategies: Global analysis
Telcos with a clear focus on what they are trying to achieve will do better at the risky business of M&A. So who’s buying what, and who’s doing well?
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.
NFV/SDN deployment pathways: Three telco futures
NFV/SDN is one factor driving radical change in telco business models. This report explores the three archetypal telco NFV/SDN implementation strategies that we’ve found in the market, and the different telco business models each will result in.
Telcos and GAFA: Dancing with the disruptors
Telcos and the major Internet platforms increasingly rely on each other. What kinds of agreements should operators enter into with Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google and what should they avoid? And what are the strategic implications of supporting players who habitually use their powerful brands and software expertise to disrupt entire industries?
Edge computing: Five viable telco business models
With Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC), telcos can move workloads and applications closer to customers, potentially enhancing experiences and enabling a plethora of new use cases. But with competition looming from other players, telcos need to start commercialising MEC. We have identified and modelled five viable telco business models.
AccorHotels: From hotelier to digital marketplace
Telcos can draw ten lessons around organisational structure, strategy and staying relevant with customers from AccorHotels’ rapid digital transformation. This is the second in our series of transformation case studies from outside the telecoms sector.
Digital M&A and Investment Strategies – July 2017 update
M&A is a key tool in building digital businesses, but is the telco sector investing enough? We examine the key drivers and barriers to telco digital M&A strategies, comparing investment levels to other verticals, and compare and contrast M&A activity with our previous findings.
TELUS Health: Innovation leader case study
Healthcare is an attractive vertical for telcos to address with digital solutions, given the sector’s low digital base and rising demand for healthcare services from ageing populations and changing lifestyles. Although many telcos have made attempts to capture this opportunity through telehealth or consumer wellness services, TELUS stands out as an example of the value of a long-term commitment to healthcare. In this case study, we examine TELUS’ strategy in health, evidence of its success, and draw out lessons for other telcos.
4G success factors: What’s driving results in APAC?
In our first analysis on 4G take-up in Europe, we found common success factors relating to how operators had rolled out their networks. In our latest analysis, looking at 30 countries in the APAC region, we identify what market characteristics drive or inhibit 4G adoption, and which countries are likely to grow fast now and why.
Apple’s pivot to services: What it means for telcos
With iPhone sales apparently peaking, Apple is looking to double its revenue from services over the next four years to approximately US$50 billion, taking it deeper into adjacent markets, such as entertainment, financial services and communications. However, Apple trails behind Google in developing artificial intelligence and needs to extend the reach of its services to capture more behavioural data. If Apple decides to decouple more of its key services from its hardware, that would have major ramifications for Google, Amazon, Facebook and many of the world’s leading telcos.
Telco-Driven Disruption: Will AT&T, Axiata, Reliance Jio and Turkcell succeed?
To find new revenues, some telcos are competing head-on with the major internet players in the digital communications, content and commerce markets. Although telcos’ track record in digital services is poor, some are gaining traction. AT&T, Axiata, Reliance Jio and Turkcell are each pursuing very different digital services strategies, and we believe these potentially disruptive moves offer valuable lessons for other telcos and their partners.
Network slicing: The greatest thing since sliced bread?
Network Slicing is a way to run multiple networks on one infrastructure. In theory, it could mean that telcos could run mobile broadband and IoT networks over the same physical network, and also offer greater agility within those networks. We explore the theory and its challenges, examine use cases, what would be needed to make it happen, and look at five business case scenarios.