Presentation of the 6th annual exclusive Telco CEO & Private Equity Event hosted by Arthur D. Little in Vienna

On May 23rd, 2016, Arthur D. Little hosted its 6th annual exclusive Telco CEO & Private Equity Event with an impressive attendance of telecom CEOs, investors and leading banks.

This year’s gathering focused on the industry’s hottest topic, “Long term value creation – How to decompose and reconfigure a telecom operator?”, and addresses some critical questions: In which fields to play? How to ensure innovation? How to produce efficiently? What assets to own and what to control?

The importance of these topics for operators, broadcasters, as well as hardware and content providers was highlighted by the over 60 top executives and shareholders of leading operators, internet players, software companies, media groups, equipment manufacturers, as well as regulators from 22 different countries attending the event.

The event began with a welcome by Karim Taga, Managing Partner, Arthur D. Little Austria, Global TIME Practice Leader. Subsequently, Richard Swinford (Partner Arthur D. Little UK), Nicolai Schaettgen (Managing Partner Match Maker Venture Austria), Jesus Portal (Partner Arthur D. Little Spain), and Bela Virag (Partner Arthur D. Little Austria) presented ADL’s executive insights, in the presence of Ignacio Garcia Alves, CEO of Arthur D. Little. This was followed by a Q&A session, during which the participants engaged in a lively discussion about the implications of the findings and questions about future development.

Many guests stayed until after midnight and took advantage of the relaxed atmosphere to engage in high-profile networking and to share their experience with executive leaders.

Key insights shared:

• Given the continued pressure on core revenue while facing the necessity to maintain a stable CAPEX envelope, operators need to focus on profitable revenue growth and return on assets to maintain and grow cash flows.
• Succeeding in new fields of play requires customer intimacy, focus, time, dedicated approaches, facing new competitors as well as new partners.
• Innovation accelerates disruption of the industry; a new era of collaboration between start-ups and corporations has started and is gaining traction.
• In order to co-create value, a culture of ‘fail fast with persistence’, clear focus and deep customer insight, appropriate vehicles, partnerships and enabling governance are all essential as is a coherent strategic commitment.
• The legacy network’s monolithic stacks are evolving into open and programmable clouds best suited to ensure the evolution of network functionality and service delivery.
• Telecom operators must set-out a simple and clear vision for the end-state and a roadmap which aligns to the new realities, as customer demands are changing, significant cost saving options emerge and innovative forces both inside and outside must be leveraged.
• Reviewing a TelCo’s assets is a catalyst for value creation: identifying core assets and reconfiguring asset portfolios enables operators to balance strategic intents, risk profiles and leverage cost-sharing potentials. Aligned with strategic vision and roadmap, reviewing the asset composition in light of ‘control vs own’ simplifies an organization and clearly creates value beyond financial engineering.