Beating OTTs at their own game: a golden digital opportunity that global telcos can’t afford to miss

Telecommunications operators face a daunting challenge: customers have gotten used to the fabulous experiences that digital-native over-the-top companies (OTTs) provide. Now these customers are demanding equally exciting services from their phone companies. Telcos should embrace—not hide from—the digital disruption and other forces reshaping the landscape.  

At a glance

• It’s hard for big, complex, and integrated telcos to swiftly and profitably meet ever-increasing expectations. 
• They will have to break open their existing business models and reconfigure the pieces to build radically new ones—and they should do it quickly 
• Big, integrated telco operators don’t compete in one business. They compete in two: on one hand there’s trading and customer relationship management (ServeCo), and on the other there’s network infrastructure management (NetCo). 
• By separating ServeCo and NetCo, telcos can take a leaf from OTT companies’ book and build a new digita-lnative business that provides a global, fully digital telecom service.