To connectivity and beyond! Inside telcos' quest for new revenue

If you were working in telecoms in the 1990s and someone told you that the industry would stop growing by 2010, would you have believed them? Probably not. Because of the fantastic growth of mobile communications during that time, it simply seemed implausible that growth would grind to a juddering halt. Yet here we are.

With the path to revenue growth via the mobile internet firmly blocked, CSPs have pursued other strategies. On the consumer side, operators have focused on bundling service and access, with triple-play and quad-play services and expansion into the TV business. When it comes to enterprise services, operators have spent most of the past decade trying to carve out a role in cloud computing. Meanwhile, the promise of the IoT has been constant but difficult to realize.

“Beyond connectivity” is the phrase TM Forum uses to describe CSPs’ efforts to diversify their revenue streams, and much of our members’ collaborative work involves creating technology enablers to help telcos expand into new lines of business. This ebook is an exploration and assessment of the progress operators are making globally as they deploy 5G and digitize their business.