Industry Insights

Can Telcos Escape the Commoditization Trap? New eBook Provides Answers

By Ideas @ AppDirect / May 9, 2018

Earlier this year, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, former CEO of Telenor and current chairman of the GSMA, sat down with McKinsey & Co. to discuss what operators need to do to adapt in the fiercely competitive telecom landscape.

As he explained, the biggest challenge facing operators is “to remain relevant to customers.” He continued: “Since the financial crisis of 2008, the value of over-the-top (OTT) companies… has soared. But that of most operators, whom the OTTs depend upon to connect everyone, has grown only modestly.”

Baksaas believes the solution to this problem lies in changing the DNA of today’s telecom companies. “First and foremost, we need to realize that operators’ genes are coded to build networks. It’s hard for them to think about developing services. The second is the gene that runs scared of collaboration… All need to understand that the competitive landscape has changed, and operators need to shape their value creation strategies accordingly.”

"Operators’ genes are coded to build networks. It’s hard for them to think about developing services."

How to shape those value creation strategies is a critical question that communication services providers (CSPs) must answer. A major new eBook from AppDirect, “Escaping the Telecom Commoditization Trap: Four Strategies to Differentiate and Drive Revenue in the Digital Economy,” begins to do just that, offering a look at the commoditization trends that are impacting the industry.

Packed with facts and figures, the eBook also explores concrete strategies that CSPs can use to drive value—and increased revenue—in the digital economy. As the eBook states: “Improving the customer experience, offering innovative digital products and services, targeting the SMB and IIoT markets—CSPs enjoy numerous opportunities to differentiate their companies and escape the commoditization trap once and for all.”

Click here to download the “Escaping the Telecom Commoditization Trap” eBook.

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