Telco 2.0™ Executive Briefings

Telco 2.0™ 'two-sided' telecoms business model The main forces acting on the Industry and their consequence for Two-Sided Business Models in Telecoms. Includes:

New Business Models and Lessons from other Industries
Capital Markets and Economy
Big National Infrastructure
Green Technology
Mobile Broadband and Digital Content
Emerging Markets

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Digital Economy: who will prosper in 'The Great Compression'?

Value is squeezed out of industries as they become increasingly digital - i.e. accessed by mobile and online, driven by data and defined by software. We call the collective economic impact of this pressure ‘The Great Compression’. But which companies will survive and prosper - and how? 90% of the Execs at our Silicon Valley brainstorm identified ‘management mindset’ as a key factor in Telecoms, Media, Finance and Retail. Our analysis and a detailed report of the findings of the Digital Economy session at the NDE Executive Brainstorm, Silicon Valley, held at the InterContinental Hotel, San Francisco on the 19th March 2013. (May 2013).

Scale of Transformation Needed April 2013

Digital Commerce: Show me the (Mobile) Money

Many companies are struggling to build a mobile commerce business case that generates significant incremental revenues in the next five years. But some will ultimately use digital wallets to create a valuable platform that bolsters customer loyalty and produces substantial revenues from location-based marketing, advertising and the management of personal data. What are the barriers, how can they be overcome, and what are the key actions for telcos, major Internet players, banks and payment networks? (April 2013)

The Cycle and Functions of Digital Commerce (April 2013)

The Great Compression: surviving the 'Digital Hunger Gap'

In the next 10 years, many industries face the 'Great Compression' in which, in addition to the pressures of ongoing global economic uncertainty, there is also a major digital transformation that is destroying traditional value and moving it 'disruptively' to new areas and geographies. For the incumbent industry players we call the near-term results of this disruption 'The Digital Hunger Gap' – the widening deficit between past and projected revenues. This is our analysis of the top-level findings of the Silicon Valley Executive Brainstorm. (March 2013)

10 Year Hunger Gap Mar 2013

Smartphones: when will Huawei be No.1?

We were surprised to hear Huawei’s objective of becoming the world’s No.1 Smartphone maker at last year’s Mobile World Congress, and somewhat dubious whether it would achieve that goal. However, at this year’s show Huawei demonstrated impressive progress, and we consider it is no longer a question of if, but when it will achieve its goal. In this analysis we explore industry scenarios and their consequences. (March 2013).

Monthly ARPU in France & EU Markets Feb 2013

Free Mobile: A Prototype for Disruption?

Free.fr’s entry to the French mobile market has achieved extraordinarily rapid market share gains and resulted in comprehensive disruption. An analysis of its technology, tactics, and business model, and a high-level assessment of the applicability of its approach to other markets. (February 2013).

Monthly ARPU in France & EU Markets Feb 2013

Finance: Optimising the Telco 2.0 revenue and cost model

Structuring finances is key for the success of innovations in general and Telco 2.0 projects in particular. In this detailed extract from our new strategy report ‘A Practical Guide to Implementing Telco 2.0’, we describe the best ways to approach the management of revenues and costs of new business models, and how to get the CFO and finance department onside with the new approaches required (February 2013).

Sprint-Softbank: how it will disrupt the US market

The Japanese and French markets have both been disrupted through the entry of low-cost competitors offering substantial price reductions. We think that Softbank’s acquisition of Sprint is a signal that the same is to soon come in the US given Softbank’s experience as a successful disruptor in Japan. (January 2013).

Digital Commerce Flywheel December 2012

A Practical Guide to Implementing Telco 2.0

How can communications services providers (CSPs) transform their businesses from Telco 1.0 (infrastructure-led stasis) to Telco 2.0 (sustainable innovation-led growth)? An essential, step-by-step guide to the implementation of new Telco 2.0 business models, providing telecoms executives and their partner companies with a systematic approach to capitalise on new opportunities and neutralise potential threats. The report outlines robust frameworks and methodologies for selecting the right Telco 2.0 strategy for each organization, identifying and implementing the key opportunities, and avoiding expensive and time-consuming mistakes.

Cloud 2.0: Telco Strategies in the Cloud

Telco 2.0 presents a new strategy report examining the evolution of cloud services; the current opportunities for vendors and Telcos in the Cloud market, plus a penetrating analysis on the positioning Telcos need to adapt in order to take advantage of the potential $200Bn global Cloud services market. This report offers over 140 pages of insightful commentary from those who’ve been working at the cutting edge, and includes an introduction to the sector's key technologies and emerging trends, as well as detailed recommendations for Telcos and vendors. (December 2012.)

Cloud Strategy Report Image

Cloud 2.0: Telstra, Singtel, China Mobile Strategies

In this extract from our forthcoming report ‘Cloud 2.0: Telco Strategies in the Cloud’ we outline the key components of Telstra, Singtel and China Mobile’s cloud strategies, and how they compare to the major ‘Big Technology’ players (such as Microsoft, VMWare, IBM, HP, etc.) and ‘Web Giants’ such as Google and Amazon. (November 2012)

Vodafone results Nov 2012

Digital Arabia Event Analysis Report: ‘Telcos hold the key to ‘Digital Arabia’ but need to act fast’

At the Digital Arabia Executive Brainstorm in Dubai, November 2012, we found that the region is on the edge of an exciting period of growth in digital commerce, entertainment and public sector services, enabled by mobile in particular. However, success depends on telcos and others working together effectively to put key enabling digital platforms in place, and this is not yet happening fast enough to avoid the stagnation now seen in many Western markets. How can this be changed? (November 2012)

Digital Arabia report header slide

Europe's brutal future: Vodafone and Telefonica hit hard

In our recent briefing European Mobile: The Future's Not Bright, It's Brutal, we predicted that European operators faced a grim future. New figures from Vodafone and Telefonica suggest that, unfortunately, the grim future is arriving fast. (November 2012)

Vodafone results Nov 2012

Strategy 2.0: From infrastructure to innovation and customer intimacy

In this preview from Part 2 of 'A Practical Guide to Implementing Telco 2.0', we outline the structural, cultural and strategic challenges of building new competences, and a service development process designed to overcome classic industry weaknesses in infrastructure businesses such as telcos and broadcasters. (October 2012)

Telco 2.0: From infrastructure to customer intimacy and innovation Oct 2012

European Mobile: The Future's not Bright, it's Brutal

New analysis by the Telco 2.0 team shows that the mobile industry’s combined revenues from voice, messaging and data services in the EU5 economies (UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy) will drop by nearly 20Bn Euros, or 4% per year, in the next five years, and by 30Bn Euros by 2020. (October 2012)

Euro Voice Brutal Future October 2012

Digital platform strategy: how Google, Apple and Amazon keep winning

Telcos traditionally think of every new service as a profitable new revenue source, and create services in silos with little thought for the total customer experience and overall creation of value. In contrast, the big internet and tech players typically build their future offerings as part of an integrated strategy to raise the overall value of their platforms. This extract from ‘A Practical Guide to Implementing Telco 2.0’ shows key lessons for telcos. (September 2012).

Generic Telco Strategies September 2012

Innovation Strategies: Telefonica 2.0 Vs. Vodafone 2.0

Telefonica and Vodafone are both European-based tier 1 CSPs with substantial revenues, cash flows and subscribers. They have both expanded beyond Europe – Vodafone into Africa and Asia and Telefonica into Latin America. However, their Telco 2.0 strategies are rather different. In this extract from our forthcoming report, A Practical Guide to Implementing Telco 2.0, we outline their Telco 2.0 strategies and their benefits and risks. (September 2012)

Telefonica Strategy 2.0 Chart

Telco 2.0: Killing Ten Misleading Myths

‘Telco 2.0’ has evolved considerably since we put forward the original concept for telcos’ future success in 2006. Here we dispel ten myths and misunderstandings that have also evolved that can misdirect strategy. (August 2012)

impact of 2sbm aug 2012 small

Telco 2.0: Report and Analysis of the EMEA 2012 Event

Telco 2.0: The findings of the 18th Telco 2.0 Executive Brainstorm, part of the New Digital Economics EMEA event, held in London 12-13 June. This event was designed to drive market transformation, encompassing new forms of voice & messaging for the digital consumer, customer experience management, and the future of telecoms operators’ networks.

Telco 2.0: Event Summary Analysis Presentation

Euro telcos: fiddling while the platform burns?

Most executives across the European telecoms industry accept that the current telco business model is in decline (the ‘burning platform’), but wholehearted action to create sustainable new models is not in place. We identify the key barriers and next steps to overcome them in this top-level analysis of findings from our recent EMEA Executive Brainstorm. (July 2012)

UK Services Revenues: Actual and Forecast (index)

Personal Data: how to make it a viable, customer-centred industry

For ‘Personal Data’ to realize its potential as a new class of economic asset there needs to be a global, cross-industry approach that empowers and protects consumer users, enables businesses, and that has scope for appropriate governance. This report is a summary of the significant progress made towards this aim made by the World Economic Forum’s Re-thinking Personal Data ‘Tiger Team’, facilitated by STL Partners with the support of the Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium, MIT Media Lab, Microsoft, Ctrl-Shift and other leading experts, at meetings held in March 2012 in San Jose, and in London in June 2012. (July 2012)

WEF Personal Data principles draft June 2012 small

Strategy 2.0: Lessons from Vodafone’s success in European SMB Communications

Vodafone have been quietly stealing a march in the European SMB communications market with a well executed strategy centred on its OneNet cloud-based product. We look at how, including comparisons with BT, Telenor, and others. (May 2012)

Vodafone Voice Analysis May 2012

HTML5: market impact and telco strategies

HTML5 will have a profound impact on consumers’ and businesses’ interaction with the web in coming years. In particular, HTML5-compliant smartphones may lead to a reduction in the power of closed app platforms such as Apple iOS and Google Android. While this seems broadly positive for telcos, there may also be negative side-effects of the increasing capability of standardised (and often free) Internet capabilities. (May 2012)

HTML5 Standards Scope and Status

Digital Economy 2.0: Report and analysis of the Silicon Valley Event 2012

Digital Economy 2.0: A write up, analysis and record of the debates, verbatim feedback and voting from the six sessions on ‘The Digital Economy 2.0’ from Day One of the New Digital Economics Silicon Valley Executive Brainstorm, held on the 27th March 2012, Marriott Hotel, San Francisco.

Digital Economy 2.0: Event Summary Analysis Presentation

Telco 2.0: how to accelerate the implementation of new business models

Opportunities exist for operators to support third-party businesses in Customer Profiling, Marketing offers, ID & Authentication, Network QoS, and Billing, Payments & Collection. However, our in-depth research among senior execs in ‘upstream’ industries (e.g. retail, media, IT, etc.) and telcos shows that poor communication of the telecoms value proposition and slow implementation by operators is frustrating upstream customers and operators alike. Our independent new analysis (kindly sponsored by Openet) identifies strategic customer segments for telcos building new ‘Telco 2.0’ business models, key obstacles to overcome, six real-world implementation strategy scenarios, and strategic recommendations for telcos. (April 2012)

Google's Advertising Revenues Cascade

Silicon Valley 2012 Overview Report: the money's moving, but are telcos?

It was exhilaratingly clear at the Silicon Valley Brainstorm, March 27-28 2012, that critical inflection points are being reached in many key areas of the digital economy: the challenges are increasingly well defined, and the intellectual, practical and economic resources being employed to solve them have the quality, power and resources to succeed. The tantalising question for all was “how do we position ourselves and implement strategies that will enable our business to be one of those to profit from (or at least survive) these changes?” Our top-level take-outs from the event. (April 2012)

Google's Advertising Revenues Cascade

Digital Economy 2.0: Silicon Valley Executive Brainstorm 2012, Day One (Tuesday 27 March)

Shifting Profit Pools and Strategic Opportunities . Presentations, votes, output and analysis from the Digital Economy 2.0 stream of the New Digital Economics Brainstorm, 27th March 2012, in San Francisco. (March 2012)

Digital Economy 2.0 Silicon Valley March 2012

Strategy 2.0: Google's Strategic Identity Crisis

Google's shares have made little headway recently despite its dominance in search and advertising, and it faces increasing regulatory threats in this area. It either needs to find new sources of value growth or start paying out dividends, like Microsoft, Apple (or indeed, a telco). Overall, this is resulting in something of a strategic identity crisis. A review of Google's strategy and implications for Telcos. (March 2012)

Google's Advertising Revenues Cascade

SAP Strategy Profile: Enabling Telcos to Operate at ‘Internet Speed’

Our top-level review of SAP’s vision of how it will enable telcos to ‘operate at internet speed’ against Telco 2.0 principles and the six key opportunity areas identified in our strategy research report, ‘The Roadmap to New Telco 2.0 Business Models’. We also challenged SAP to build a Proof of Concept implementation of a complex multi-sided business model with a leading European mobile operator within one month. How did it go? (February 2012, Foundation 2.0)

Six Opportunity Areas within the Telco 2 Platform

How to Spot a "Business Model Problem"

What is a ‘business model problem’? How can you tell when you’ve got one? What are the key business model challenges faced by telcos today, and how should they address them? (February 2012, Foundation 2.0)

Rabbit in Headlights

Facebook: what the pre-IPO S-1 filing revealed

New figures released in Facebook’s S-1 filing for its IPO stack up with Telco 2.0’s previous analysis of Facebook’s performance for our report ‘Dealing with the Disruptors’. This further strengthens our views that many mooted valuations are overblown, and that Facebook will seek new sources of value in communications. (February 2012)

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

An updated 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.)

Google Apple Facebook Microsoft Skype Amazon Telco 2.0 Disruptor Report Cover

Vodafone CIO: 2012 a big year for customer data, analytics, and M-Commerce

Albert Hitchcock, Vodafone's Group CIO, believes there will be significant developments in customer experiece and M-Commerce (mobile money and advertising) starting in 2012, driven by improved use of customer data and analytics. He describes Vodafone's approach and early learning in a video interview from our recent New Digital Economics EMEA Brainstorm held in London. (Published January 2012, Foundation 2.0)

Albert Hitchcock Vodafone Group CIO

'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)

UTF Image Jan 2012

Asia & Middle East: 'can do' Telco 2.0 Strategies

In 2011 we’ve really been struck by the ‘can do’ attitude of companies in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions towards Telco 2.0 strategies, and their desire to leapfrog legacy (Western) business models and technologies. This was highlighted at the New Digital Economics & CSG APAC Executive Brainstorm in Singapore, as were increasing similarities between APAC region business model challenges with those in Europe and America. (December 2011)

APAC and EMEA Telco 2.0 Image

LTE: Less Transforming than Expected

An analysis of the status of LTE, the next generation of wireless network technology, including a round-up of early operator trials, and views on prospects for key vendors by Telco 2.0 partners Arete Research. (December 2011)

Telecoms and the Eurozone Economic Crisis: a perfect storm?

What are the possible impacts on telecoms of further economic troubles in the Eurozone? Will it be recessionary business as usual or something much nastier? And how will it impact ‘Telco 2.0’ Strategies? (December 2011)

EMEA Messaging Decline reasons Nov 2011

Customer Experience 2.0: Learning from Amazon? (STL Presentation)

Customer Experience 2.0: Learning from Amazon?, Presentation by Phil Laidler, Director, Consulting, STL Partners. Can we learn from Amazon, or are we facing the fall of the Telco Empire at the hands of the OTT Invaders? Presented at EMEA Brainstorm, November 2011.

Customer Experience 2.0: NFC, the next mobile revolution? (STL Presentation)

Customer Experience 2.0: NFC, the next mobile revolution?, Presentation by Daniel Gurrola, VP Consumer Mobile Strategy, Orange. NFC should be a platform for a new generation of applications and services that will transform the industry. Presented at EMEA Brainstorm, November 2011.

Patent Wars, part of the 'Great Game' (STL Partners Presentation)

In Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Skype - the Great Game. Presentation by Keith McMahon, Senior Analyst, STL Partners, covering key patent wars between the leading technology players and telcos. Presented at EMEA Brainstorm, November 2011.

Cloud EMEA Nov 2011 BT Financial Sector

The 'Great Game' - Google, Apple, Facebook, Skype, Amazon (STL Presentation)

In Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Skype - the Great Game. Presentation by Chris Barraclough, Chief Strategist and MD STL Partners, covering some of the key insights from the Telco 2.0 Strategy Report Dealing with the 'Disruptors': Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft/Skype and Amazon. Presented at EMEA Brainstorm, November 2011.

CDNs 2.0: should telcos compete with Akamai?

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) such as Akamai’s are used to improve the quality and reduce costs of delivering digital content at volume. What role should telcos now play in CDNs? (September 2011)

Should telcos compete with Akamai?

Handset IPR - a new cold war begins

The recent spate of deals (Google/Motorola, Nortel, Microsoft/Nokia) are the start of a long 'Cold War', where all parties are heavily armed, and risk destroying each other (and themselves) with overly aggressive legal actions. Telco 2.0 partners Arete Research analyse implications for the mobile device space and clarify some misunderstood issues. (September 2011)

Apps & Telco APIs 2.0: their role vs Facebook, Skype, and iMessage

Many popular communications apps such as Facebook, Skype and iMessage bypass telcos’ core networks by going ‘over the top’. Yet smartphone apps, and in future HTML5 web apps, also present new distribution opportunities for telco services including voice, messaging, and payments, as long as developers are motivated to use telco APIs. How should telcos approach the 'App Economy' to best defend existing revenues and develop new opportunities? (August 2011)

Apps & Telco APIs Figure 1 Drivers of the App Market Telco 2.0 Sept 2011

Facebook: really 'worth' $30 billion max - $100 billion is hype

Our maximum valuation of Facebook is $30 billion despite some of the 'hype' suggesting $100 billion valuations. In any event, Facebook will be under enormous pressure to find new sources of growth making further moves into telecommunications likely. See why in this extract previewing our next Strategy Report on 'Internet disruptors' covering Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Skype, and strategies for 'co-opetition' with them. (August 2011)

Strategy 2.0: The Six Key Telco 2.0 Opportunities

A summary of the six Telco 2.0 opportunities to transform telco's business models for success in an IP-based, post PSTN world: Core Services, Vertical Solutions, Infrastructure Services, Embedded Communications, 3rd Party Enablers, and Own Brand OTT Services. It includes an extract from the Roadmap to New Telco 2.0 Business Models, updates on latest developments, and feedback from over 500 senior TMT industry execs. (July 2011)

Telco 2.0 Six Key Opportunity Types Chart July 2011

M2M 2.0: Market, Business Models, and Telcos' Role(s)

Our latest report on M2M 2.0 covers: M2M market growth, structure and dynamics; business models; the best role(s) for telcos; and leading thinking from Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Telenor, KPN and Swisscom. It describes how 'Service Enablers' are key to the telco opportunity in M2M in addition to connectivity. (July 2011)

M2M Pie Chart Service Enablers July 2011

RIM: R.I.P. or ‘Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’?

RIM’s shares have plummeted in value over the last four months, prompting an eruption of finger-pointing in the media and speculation of its demise or acquisition. In this analysis we examine whether the doom-mongers are right and what RIM’s recovery strategy might be. (July 2011)

Strategy 2.0: What Skype + Microsoft means for telcos

In theory, Microsoft and Skype have the resources, the brands, the customer base and the know-how to shape the future of telecoms and become a strategic counterweight to Apple and Google. Can they do it – and what should telcos’ strategy be? (June 2011)

Cloud 2.0: Telcos to grow Revenues 900% by 2014

Telcos should grow Cloud Services revenues nine-fold and triple their overall market share in the next three years according to delegates at the May 2011 EMEA Executive Brainstorm. But which are the best opportunities and strategies? (June 2011)

Mobile Broadband Economics: LTE 'Not Enough'

Innovation appears to be flourishing in mobile broadband. At the Telco 2.0 EMEA Executive Brainstorm earlier this month we saw working applications that enable a.) users to monitor and control their network usage and services and b.) operators to support 'dynamic pricing'. Despite growing enthusiasm for LTE, delegates considered offloading traffic and network sharing strategies as at least as effective in managing costs. (May 2011)

Telco 2.0 Strategy: New Growth needs New Metrics

‘What gets measured gets done’, and telcos need to use new metrics to uncover and develop new sources of value. They also need to make WAC a ‘JFDI’ initiative. These and other top level Telco 2.0 strategic themes from the May 2011 EMEA Telco 2.0 Executive Brainstorm. (May 2011)

LTE & Wholesale: Time to Get Aggressive?

We examine four examples of the growing trend of wholesale-oriented LTE operations, their key challenges and opportunities, and recommend that incumbent operators should be more aggressive in wholesale. (May 2010)

New Business Models: Half Future Telco Growth

Senior industry executives in Palo Alto at the 12th Telco 2.0 Executive Brainstorm agreed that half of the telco growth available in the next 3 years would come from the new business model opportunities identified in the ‘Roadmap to new Telco 2.0 Business Models’ report. The other half would come from improvements to the current business model. Headline findings in brief. (April 2011)

The Roadmap to New Telco 2.0 Business Models

This Strategy Report plots the transformational path that telcos need to follow to achieve the $375Bn p.a. 'Telco 2.0' opportunities. It describes the six growth opportunity areas for the Telecoms industry, identifies new categories of operators, benchmarks the primary strategies needed by each to evolve and thrive in the new industry environment, and highlights leading examples of telco business model innovation. It has 284 pages, including a 13 page Executive Summary and a detailed index. (April 2011.)

Public Wifi: Destroying LTE/Mobile Value?

By building or acquiring Public WiFi networks for tens of $Ms, highly innovative fixed players in the UK are stealthily removing $Bns of value from 3G and 4G mobile spectrum as smartphone and other data devices become increasingly carrier agnostic. What are the lessons globally? (April 2011)

Tablet Frenzy: Network Poison or Economic Palliative?

The success of the iPad2 has been seen by some as a sign of a paradigm shift in computing. With their theoretical appeal as a new portable medium for online video consumption could tablets have a significant impact on communications networks and economics? Here is Telco 2.0’s market outlook. (March 2011)

Arete Research: Getting to a Billion Smartphones in 2013

Smartphones have already transformed the device market but are growth predictions vastly underestimated? Arete Research explain how smartphones growth will mirror that of low cost handsets and reach a billion by 2013. (March 2011)

Android: Google's Anti-Apple Virus?

It can be tempting to think of Android as in a two-horse race with Apple. Our analysis shows that the current and future impact of Google's highly successful mobile ecosystem play is much more complex. (March 2011)

Mobile World Congress: Microsoft CEO fails to land all punches, but...

Microsoft's pugilistic CEO Steve Ballmer came out fighting at the 2011 GSMA Mobile World Congress, but failed to register a convincing win. Is this the start of the old software champ's great comeback in mobile, or is the only way down? Our hunch may surprise you. (February, 2011)

Facing up to Facebook

Despite a >500 million user base and global media hype, Facebook needs more revenues than advertising can bring, and sees communications as a key area to target as its deal with Skype has shown. Telco 2.0's detailed analysis of Facebook's business model and strategy. (Executive Video Briefing, December 2010)