Traditional Telecom Companies Must Pivot: Arthur D. Little

Traditional telecommunications service providers can't rely on their physical infrastructure for competitive differentiation, as the growth of disruptive market entrants means "anyone can now launch a telecom company in a matter of days," management consultancy Arthur D. Little said Wednesday. Those new competitors include big cloud and streaming providers like Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft, as well as mobile virtual network operators, it said in a report. Traditional telecommunications service providers must differentiate at the product and service level, it added. The report predicted that traditional companies will pivot from what have been core products and services and focus on such business approaches as being a no-frills connectivity provider or an AI-enabled digital life assistant that's integrated with numerous applications and platforms. It said some traditional telecommunications service providers might also opt to become bundlers of connectivity content, entertainment, cloud and cybersecurity.