Winning as a digital telco

Summary

Telecom operators helped build the infrastructure behind the fastest era of digital innovation in history, yet they have captured relatively little of the value created by the internet economy that grew on top of their networks. Core revenue from voice, SMS, and basic connectivity has steadily declined as over-the-top and social platforms capture consumer attention and engagement through fundamentally different business models.

Part of the constraint has been telcos' historic difficulty delivering the kind of seamless, intuitive customer experience that digital-native platforms take for granted, limiting their ability to compete for loyalty in an era when enterprises across every sector are fighting for the same customer attention. Superapps built by companies like Grab, Amazon, Shopee, and Gojek illustrate what owning the customer journey end-to-end can look like.

Becoming a genuinely digital telco means building a frictionless platform where customers can discover, start, and manage their needs intuitively, treating the network itself as an experience platform rather than pure infrastructure. As consumer digital needs continue evolving over the coming decade, this shift opens a path for telcos to capture adjacent value beyond core connectivity, provided they can build the brand affinity and cost structure to compete credibly with digital-native rivals.

Can telecom operators rebuild their networks as genuine experience platforms before digital-native superapps close the gap entirely?