Telecommunications

Both fixed-line and mobile markets have become more complex than ever before. While problems such as price erosion, new competitors and customer churn still need to be solved, new technologies such as VDSL and LTE, and new services such as IPTV or mobile TV, need to be launched to gain a competitive edge.

Fixed-line markets: Caught between shrinking margins, churn and the need to stand out

In the fixed-line market, incumbents face increasing churn problems, while smaller players try to find a way to stand out, apart from just offering lower prices. What was state of the art last year is only a commodity this year. And the bandwidth race is picking up speed, while the value added for consumers is less and less. Profits are down.

IPTV is about to take off, but the challenge here is to convince not just early adopters, but also the general population. Moreover, the question as to how telco providers can successfully participate in Web 2.0 beyond providing merely the data highway, becomes more relevant in times of declining margins and low differentiation.

Other considerations, such as ensuring continued demand for existing products while guaranteeing investment returns for suppliers of new products, are still major issues.

Mobile telecommunications: New players, shrinking prices and the challenge to boost new technologies

Mobile providers have experienced significant price declines in recent years and business models have changed. MVNOs have become both competitors and powerful wholesale customers at the same time. Mobile TV still has to prove itself, and operators fear that this might be another flop like UMTS. And although UMTS is slowly gaining importance, it still lacks the mobile data killer application. Mobile broadband is seen as one of the biggest threats to fixed-line services. Is this really true? How can mobile operators efficiently tap into the large broadband market? How can operators find the right balance between low-cost/no-frills offerings and high quality services?

Our projects demonstrate that we help clients solve their problems by focusing on key issues and applying proven know-how, approaches and tools. Our consultants deliver tangible results that create value. These range from preventing customer churn in the fixed-line and mobile business to establishing operational excellence; from IPTV launches to supporting recent major acquisitions; from strategy to restructuring. Our specialists know your business, no matter if you are an incumbent or a new market player, an MNO or an MVNO, a buyer or seller. We always deliver bottom-line results.

• For a leading European telecommunications company, we developed and implemented a highly effective churn prevention system, allowing to significantly reduce cancellations
• In China, we devised the marketing and sales strategy for a leading mobile operator
• In Eastern-Europe, we successfully supported geographical expansion for several telecommunication companies
• For a major pan-European telecommunications company we revised its online and mobile content offerings
• In Eastern-Europe, we developed business cases for four strategic alternatives combined with four market scenarios for an incumbent telecommunication company
• In Western-Europe, we facilitated the MVNO-launch of a cable operator
• Worldwide, we executed various corporate restructuring projects – from personnel to reducing the complexity concerning product portfolio, systems, platforms, organization and processes for leading telecommunications companies