Telecom strategies for a 5G future

Over the past decade, connectivity has grown in importance—yet the industry has seen steadily declining average revenue per user. In fact, consumer revenues are projected to be roughly flat through 2030.

It seems unlikely the industry will be able to drive significant growth from consumer service revenues alone. And yet, telecom operators need to invest heavily in network advancements—including 5G and fiber.

Fortunately, the market for connectivity-enabled industry solutions is burgeoning—offering operators a way to expand their businesses and revenues. The connectivity needs of enterprises are vast and growing. And while industry connectivity demands extend well outside of what 5G alone provides, 5G’s unique performance capabilities offer significant global economic potential.

Providing connectivity-enabled industry solutions can help telecom operators capture future economic opportunities.

5G is expected to enable $13.1 trillion in annual sales across all industry sectors by 2035. However, for telecom operators to extract the most value from emerging opportunities, they must make strategic choices about the capabilities they will provide and the roles they will play in value-creating ecosystems.

Telecom transformation is essential

The shift in focus toward industry enablement is not temporary. We believe it is a permanent evolution of the traditional telecom model.

We believe creating new value will require substantial change to the telecom enterprise, and in some cases holistic transformation. It will also require a clear understanding that collaboration creates combined effects. We believe ecosystem engagement and multi-stakeholder collaboration is essential to solving complex problems by providing a path to multi-component integrated solutions.

Telecom operators have an opportunity to play a valuable role in the next phase of enterprise digital transformation.

Each operator will need to be positioned to add value to end users and partners in a specific way. Some operators can achieve success by specializing their connectivity offering, while others may become more akin to technology companies by integrating technologies and capabilities. What is important is that each forms a deliberate value creation strategy centered around sustainable value delivery and scalable business models—and that they align the entire organization to support their strategic direction.

A divergent future for telecom operators

Each operator will need to develop a specific value creation strategy

To help telecom leaders plan future options for serving enterprise clients, we’ve developed a forward-looking industry framework that outlines 4 industry archetypes. Download the report to see how these archetypes can help telecom leaders transform their business models to deliver more value in a 5G future.