In an exclusive interview at the 18th edition of the Telecom Review Leaders' Summit, Gilles Vaqué, President and Founding Partner of PMP Strategy, shared his expert insights on how PMP Strategy is helping telecom companies navigate the complexities of network innovation, market expansion, and sustainability.
Gilles Vaqué discussed the key trends shaping the telecom industry, the critical transformations operators must undertake in the next three-to-five years, and the company's commitment to driving growth and operational excellence for its clients in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
How does PMP Strategy help telecom companies address key challenges like network innovation, market expansion, and sustainability?
PMP Strategy is a strategy consulting firm operating in many countries. This specificity ensures that more than 50% of our business is related to telco and tech, so we are experts in this sector. The ability to help operators get maximum value out of these new businesses is one of the key issues we are working on with several operators and telcos.
This specificity is also critical for sharing all the best practices we see in the different countries, thanks to our offices worldwide. The ability to be ‘on-the-ground’ to help telco companies as a true partner, enabling them to gain and catch the value of this new market and path of growth, is part of our DNA at PMP Strategy.
With technologies like 5G, AI, and IoT transforming the telecom industry, what advice does PMP Strategy have for telecom companies to remain competitive?
AI, 5G, and IoT are good growth paths for operators. As you know, in some regions, for instance, in Europe, there is no more growth for telcos and the telco sector. In others, such as North America and the GCC region, there is still huge growth potential in terms of connectivity, but the ability to capture all these new markets is key for all the companies.
We see a lot of potential in all things related to ‘beyond the core’ in both the B2B and B2C markets. On the B2B side, the ability to become a champion in ICT is key. In relation to this, cloud and cybersecurity is key for operators. It's an enormous market with huge, substantial worldwide players, and the ability to gain value is key for them. In the B2C market, the ability to become a payment, banking, and real marketplace player (not only a digital player) is important.
Operators have many, many, fields for growth, and that, I think, is key for them. For PMP Strategy, we have a lot of expertise in each of these sectors thanks to our many SME experts. We also know the capabilities and new business models very well.
To become a champion is not only to add a service or product to the roadmap you already have; it’s about defining a strategy to build the capabilities, review the organization, and build the ecosystem. This is not the same business model as a telco model. The ability to implement operationally and reap the results of this growth in terms of P&L, is how we can help all telcos gain value in their P&L.
What key trends will shape the telecom industry in the next three-to-five years?
In the next three-to-five years, telco operators and companies will face two main issues and two main stakes. Therefore, they must be able to make two key transformations.
In terms of the core model, they must become lean, efficient, customer-oriented, and have a high sustainability target. They must revisit all their models. For instance, on the IT side, they need to transform legacy IT into smart IT that is very lean, reactive, and digital. In terms of customer care, they need to ask, ‘How can I improve the NPS and use AI to improve my relationship with my customer?’ as it's a key issue. On the network side, identifying how to build an intelligent network and drive and steer this network to get more value from the infrastructure and the network is key. So, there are several transformations the operator can apply to the core model in the coming year.
In parallel, it is crucial to leverage the full potential of ICT across various areas, such as cybersecurity, digital marketplaces, payment systems, and banking. This will enable active participation in multiple verticals, such as healthcare and education. There’s a new path for growth, and telcos must adapt their models to create a new joint venture (JV), for instance, a new sub-company, to achieve their full value. They must also be able to manage both models.
I think the key champions in the future will be all the telcos with the ability to transform their core model and, in parallel, become champions in these new markets.
More from Vaqué:
Insights From PMP Strategy: Redefining Telecom Strategies for Sustainable Value Creation
PMP Strategy: Leading the Future of Telecom and Technology
