Profiting from convergence: Defining growth paths for telecom service providers

Internal and external forces of convergence are taking hold of the telecommunications industry. Convergence of local and national voice services dramatically changed the telecom landscape, as competition flourished. Now, voice and data services are converging rapidly. Soon, customers will be able to access any content or application seamlessly from a multitude of networks, using any device of their choosing.

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Industry players are gearing up to harness the potential of converging technology, networks, devices and content to develop multimedia services and solutions of ever-increasing sophistication on a single Internet Protocol (IP). Evolving customer demands for content from an increasing variety of sources will require telecom providers to engage in a complex web of collaboration with the media and entertainment, IT and consumer electronics industries.

Convergence offers telecom companies a world of opportunities. But before they can profit, telecom providers must make tough strategic and technical choices. Success will depend not only on making the right decisions about where to play in a converged environment, but on transforming business models and capabilities to make the most of these new opportunities. Most importantly, service providers must align their strategic choices and capabilities to the specific needs of the customer segments they intend to serve. The days of being "all things to all people" are in the past.

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