International Wholesale Carriers – New Business Models & Growth Drivers in the Digital Transformation Era

International Wholesale Carriers – New Business Models & Growth Drivers in the Digital Transformation Era

Brief

Overall telecoms industry is adjusting to a series of systemic threats brought about by changes in technology, regulation, competition and business models. From the explosion of data traffic in mobile and fixed networks to the ambitious challenge presented by OTT players, service migration to the cloud or the emergence of IoT, retail telco providers are facing a seminal disruption to their business models.

Overall wholesale carriers are under substantial pressure to accelerate the rollout of additional services and reduce their exposure to voice. The explosion of data traffic is offering a path to doing just that, breathing additional life into the wholesale business.

Network and managed services segments have become strategically vital to the outlook of the wholesale business, driving revenue growth, boosting margins and re-establishing wholesale providers as critical cogs in the digital service ecosystem. For wholesale carriers without strong network services businesses, additional questions are being raised on how to transform their models – or whether to stay in the wholesale voice and VAS business at all.

Wholesale providers also face dramatic changes in the nature of demand for their services. There is sustained demand from traditional customers, whose requirements are growing in complexity. There is also the emergence of additional sources of demand from retail providers of several stripes (MVNOs, OTTs and MNCs) looking to harness additional technologies to offer highly customized services, improve production or delivery processes or integrate communications into their service delivery chains – all, very often, on a regional or overall scale.

For independent overall wholesale voice providers, we argue that an expansion of the service portfolio is imperative – absent which an exit should be at a minimum a strong consideration. Wholesale mobile data providers are in a superior tactical position: they are well-positioned in an increasing segment. The wholesale player of the future will offer a more complex, more dynamic overall traffic and network distribution platform, one capable of adapting to a multiplicity of use cases – e.g., e-health, e-education and clever cities – on a overall scale, with high levels of quality, resilience and security.

The “International Wholesale Carriers – New Business Models & Growth Drivers in the Digital Transformation Era” examines the changing dynamics, the additional growth drivers and business models of the overall worldwide wholesale industry. It lays out for worldwide carriers the critical considerations and tactical options for taking the journey to the wholesaler of the future, from the business model drivers to the essential portfolio evolution requirements.

In unique, this business report offers the following analysis –

– Offers an analysis of the current and future dynamics shaping the telecom industry, from data traffic explosion to IoT, cloud and virtualized networks.

– Examines the impact of the changing telecom industry dynamics on the overall wholesale market, in terms of revenues, margins, and traffic and growth drivers. We also look at the evolving nature of demand for wholesale services.

– Offers the various wholesale carrier tactical groups – established on their portfolio breadth, network depth and business purpose – then assesses and lays down the distinct tactical options – in terms of business models and tactical actions- available to each group to position itself successfully for a wholesale future.

– Offers an overview of how wholesale portfolios should evolve and expand to meet the additional demand dynamics coming from traditional and additional customers.

– Offers a set of main findings and recommendations on the worldwide wholesale industry’s evolving dynamics, additional growth drivers and business models, and we also provide tactical recommendations for worldwide carriers to position themselves for increase.

Firms mentioned in this industry report: Aicent, AT&T, AWS, BICS, BT Global Services, BT Wholesale, China Telecom, Colt, Comfone, GCX, Google, iBasis, IDT, KPN, Lebara, Level 3, LycaMobile, Mac, Microsoft, Orange, PCCW Global, SAP, Syniverse, Tata Communications, Telefonica, Telenor Wholesale, Telstra, Vodafone, AT&T, AWS.

Overview

– The overall telecoms industry is in a state of transition, retail telco providers are seeing their models disrupted by a series of systemic threats and additional digital opportunities. These winds of change are impacting overall wholesale providers, as traffic fundamentals and traditional economics get upended and as the nature of the wholesale demand changes. Overall wholesalers need to evolve towards additional business models and service portfolio in order to unlock the additional wholesale growth drivers in the digital transformation era.

– Traditional wholesale voice traffic margins have been in persistent decline over the past three years, this has put substantial pressure on carriers to accelerate their rollout of additional services. The explosion of data traffic, by contrast, is breathing additional life into the wholesale business. Network services and managed services segments have become strategically vital to the outlook of various players.

– Wholesale providers face sustained demand from traditional customers whose requirements are increasing in complexity (e.g. pay-as-you go billing, dynamic bandwidth allocation). There is also the emergence of additional demand channels from retail providers of different stripes (Cloud providers, MVNOs, OTTs, MNCs).

– As they seek to transform, the tactical options available to wholesale providers are a function of each individual player’s tactical position in the wholesale market, the depth of their product portfolio, the reach and depth of their network – and most critically, their global business purpose.

– Depending on the wholesale carrier group, the tactical options may include actions including portfolio expansion, M&As, reducing exposure to voice, targeted investments, units combination, additional pricing structures. These are thoroughly detailed in the study.

Great reasons to purchase

– The analysis examines the changing dynamics, the additional growth drivers and business models of the overall worldwide wholesale industry.

– The market research offers valuable insights and recommendations for worldwide carriers on the critical considerations and tactical options for taking the journey to the wholesaler of the future and position for increase.

– The report’s case studies provide real examples of market approaches, postitionning, product portfolios and strategies being employed by a number of carriers that have started their journey to the wholesaler of the future, together with others that urgently need to.