Our opening panel of senior execs from BT Business, Orange Business and CEO of MGMN Alliance tackled this tricky, multi-layered question, moderated by TM Forum’s Mark Newman
The opening panel at Mobile Europe‘s Telco to techco virtual event addressed the thorny issue of What is a telco for? at our virtual event last week. For example, moderator Mark Newman (pictured above, top right) posed the question of where telcos sit in business models and value chains? Newman is TM Forum’s Chief Analyst.
The panellists were Colin Bannon, CTO of BT Business (pictured bottom left), Mohamed Talaye, CTO of Orange Business (pictured bottom right) and Anita Döhler, CEO of the NGMN Alliance (top left).
Newman began by pointing out that attempts to capture the true value of connectivity have not been successful and attempts at diversification have, at best, been mixed. Newman highlighted “pockets” of success such as in financial services in sub-Saharan Africa and TV services in some countries.
He suggested that areas more ripe for growth are IoT, integration services and security in the B2B market, but overall the biggest hope is in differentiated connectivity.
What the video now to hear the views of the panellists, first on how telecoms has pivoted in the last five to seven years to look to B2B for growth, and how much of remains aspirational rather than actual.
The second half of the panel focuses more on the technological underpinnings of telcos’ strategies and how the operators are looking to leverage them in the near and middle-term future to cement their evolving roles.
