By 2027, 82.2% of major mobile operators in Asia-Pacific (APAC) will remain as telcos, with 25% likely to exit or become MVNOs. Only 17.8% of major mobile operators in APAC will become Techcos (technology companies). Being passive and dependent on vendors for innovation has made the industry weak in driving innovation, leveraging technology, and thinking out of the box. Urgent changes are inevitable and essential to trigger a new growth trajectory for the telecom industry.

In APAC, customer experience is increasingly addressed with 5G alongside digital and other emerging technologies, such as cloud, AI, analytics, IoT, and XR. To be effective, the prerequisites for leveraging technology are simplification, rationalization, and automation, which are uphill tasks essential for mobile operators to undertake. If successfully undertaken, these tasks can lead to better NPS scores, monetization, and telco survival rates.

The shift from consumer logic, which the industry has centered on for over 40 years, to growth logic will not be an easy one. Besides being a source of innovation, strong collaborative partnerships can help mobile operators overcome issues in understanding consumer needs, shortage of skillsets, and lack of value proposition.

The challenge lies in managing the partner relationship to be outcome focused. While vendors and suppliers offer innovative solutions that can enable new industry growth, these must go hand-in-hand with mobile operators’ internal change in culture, mindset, and approach. Mobile operators could set new benchmarks for the industry by raising the bar in terms of their expectations of vendors and suppliers and transforming. AI and a cloud-native approach can be critical enablers of the technology part of the shift. 2024?2025 will see a great change in mobile operators’ approach. The days of using marketing to drive sales are giving way to tackling issues head-on over the long term.

The odds are not in the favor of mobile operators, and time is of the essence. With the scale needed to monetize 5G enterprise and revenue in favor of software, cloud, and system integration providers, mobile operators must decide if they are going all in or are instead focused on becoming an efficient utility provider. The good news is that based on regional and global mobile operator case studies, best practices are emerging, and early results are encouraging. There is a part of the pie for mobile operators; it is just a matter of how big that pie is. A way forward is what is required. Openness and API-driven are technical jargon. A bigger task for mobile operators lies in simplification.

Author: Mei Lee Quah