Telecom Operators are currently facing severe challenges and share- and stakeholders have high expectations. This requires managing these expectations, making the right strategic choices and executing the strategy in a disciplined way:

Challenges:

• Market saturation which requires other methods to grow revenues.

• Decreasing traditional voice-, roaming- and SMS revenues.

• Capex investment – driven by FTTH roll-out and migrations, mobile capacity, 5G and IT changes (billing, CRM, AI).

• Be lean and manage costs (OPEX and Direct costs), without compromising stakeholder expectations.

• Transformations: Getting rid of legacy organizations, technologies and systems while embracing digitalization.

High expectations of stakeholders:

• Shareholders: Financial performance and dividend, strategic growth, ESG, transparency, risk management, innovation and, especially in case of the government as shareholder, expectations on giving back to society, providing the digital infrastructure that enables GDP growth and providing job security.

• Customers: Reliable and high-quality service, excellent customer support, transparent pricing, seamless digital experience, personalized experiences, innovative services, ESG and sustainability, and in the case of large B2B and Government customers an in-depth understanding of their business.

• Employees: Job security, transparency, purpose, work-life balance, career development, compensation and a positive work environment.

• Suppliers: Timely payment, clear communication, long-term partnerships, support and training, ESG and innovation.

In our experience, Telecom operators that manage to balance the challenges of technological change and high stakeholder expectations are the most successful. Furthermore, we expect Telcos that have gone through the phase of their Fiber roll-out and network modernization to decrease their Capex spends and related cashflow.

NTCS is able to supports you through our Strategy Consulting offering by providing you with experienced strategy professionals in the following areas:

1. Defining or adjusting your strategy through a process of “co-creation”.

2. Business Strategy & Planning, including financial planning.

3. Stakeholder management approach.

4. Commercial strategy and clear execution plan to grow revenues (e.g. new business/products, customer retention and

   pricing).

5. Definition and execution of transformation programs to reduce costs.

6. Technology and innovation strategy, to upgrade networks, expand capacity, implement new technologies and offer new services.

We also provide strategic plans and/or experienced interim managers for events that are unique and unprecedented, such as:

1. New market entry.

2. M&A and post-merger integration or carve-out.

3. Large transformation – driven by technology phase-out or digitalization.

4. Telcos with P&L or liquidity challenges.