From telecom to techco: The path to B2B monetization

Telecom companies are shifting towards techco models. The right strategy, tech, and partnerships can accelerate this transformation and unlock new opportunities for growth.

The global telecommunications industry is grappling with significant challenges across both wireless and wireline service segments. The Canadian Telecommunications Association, for example, found that internet access prices fell by more than 15 percent from March 2023 to March 2024, while cellphone prices declined by approximately 26 percent.

The 2025 CRTC Canadian Telecommunication Market Report highlights a decrease in capital investments, falling from $10 billion in 2022 to $9.7 billion in 2023. This downward trend is largely attributed to sluggish GDP growth and persistent inflation, which have eroded consumer purchasing power and led to reduced spending across various market segments.

Compounding these issues, the entry of new competitors, along with slow-moving regulatory changes, creates additional headwinds for Tier 1 telecom providers. Traditional telecom businesses across voice and data services are facing mounting revenue and margin pressures.

New opportunities are emerging in B2B

However, there are bright spots within the enterprise sector. According to a report by GSMA Intelligence, the global enterprise market is a $400 billion opportunity, representing 35 percent of current mobile operator revenues.

In Canada, the enterprise ICT market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nine percent from 2023 to 2028, marking a significant upswing compared to traditional operator revenues, which are expected to exceed $188 billion over the next three years. This growth is explored in What’s next for telecoms, a 2025 Capgemini analysis from MWC which highlights how the sector is expanding beyond connectivity to seize new enterprise B2B service opportunities. As enterprise spending shifts towards more advanced technology services, telecoms are positioning themselves to deliver across the value chain, encompassing cloud computing, data centers, cybersecurity, the Internet of Things (IoT), analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain.

With the rapid growth of the enterprise market, many operators are transitioning from traditional telecom models to “techco” models. This shift aims to create agile, technology-driven organizations capable of meeting the complex demands of mid-sized and large enterprise clients.

Telecom vs techco: What is the difference?

Telecoms have traditionally focused on building and managing communication networks that deliver mobile, internet, and voice connectivity. However, they are often constrained by complex processes, making agility and innovation difficult, especially when addressing sophisticated solution requirements.

Techcos are technology and customer-experience centric. They prioritize the development of innovative digital platforms, products, and services, and are designed to leverage emerging technologies to generate high-margin revenue streams and enhance customer experiences, with a strong focus on digital and AI-powered services.

Key characteristics of techcos:

• Techcos are digital-centric. Techcos deliver a new wave of digital and cloud-based services, including platforms, AI solutions, and applications.
• Techcos are agile. They emphasize faster time-to-market and customer satisfaction by fostering a culture of adaptability and continuous improvement.
• Techcos are driven by innovation and customers. Techcos prioritize innovation through the adoption of cutting-edge technologies such as cloud computing and AI. This enables a data-driven approach to service development, internal optimization, and operational efficiency.

How do telecoms make the transition and manage complexities?

With the scale of emerging revenue opportunities, more telecoms are embarking on the journey to become stronger techcos, seeking to build greater relevance and capture value in an increasingly competitive market dominated by digital-native players. The challenge is identifying the right opportunities and partners to deliver value and achieve transformation at scale.

Key considerations for enabling digital transformation

• Adopt a digital mindset. Embrace new ways of working, such as agile methodologies, rapid prototyping, and a fail-fast approach. These practices enable organizations to quickly adapt to evolving client needs and enhance responsiveness in dynamic markets.
• Invest in culture and talent. Reassess the critical skill sets required to drive innovation. This may involve conducting workforce audits to identify upskilling opportunities or rethinking recruitment strategies to attract creative, digitally fluent talent. The next generation of employees must be equipped to understand complex enterprise requirements and pursue high-value opportunities, moving beyond the traditional telecom focus on volume and velocity.
• Forge the right ecosystem partnerships. Collaborate with leading technology providers and innovation partners with the right skills, capabilities, and expertise to accelerate solution development and operational transformation. AI can drive operational efficiency, enable faster product releases, and support agile, data-driven decision-making.
• Transition from rigid, legacy systems to modern, flexible, and cost-effective architectures. This shift reduces operational complexity by automating routine tasks and integrating AI-driven processes, ultimately enhancing productivity and delivering stronger ROI.
• Take an automation-first approach. AI-powered automation is central to techco transformation. It enables the development of applications that improve service delivery, quality, and network availability, while also enhancing workforce effectiveness. Streamlined governance and development processes will accelerate solution deployment for enterprise clients and improve internal operational efficiency.

The agile telecom: Monetizing investments

As telecoms transition into techcos and transform their operations, one of the most pressing challenges remains monetizing their substantial network investments.

In this new techco model, telecoms will develop new assets such as open APIs to unlock the value of network capabilities, AI-powered application factories for network automation across public and private domains, and modern cloud offerings like sovereign AI to deliver AI-as-a-Service solutions. Development of these services pose new opportunities to expand these offerings to other enterprises, unlocking new sources of revenue growth.

However, the complexity of this transformation extends beyond technology. It requires a holistic shift across marketing, operations, and sales to fully realize the potential of these innovations. These new solutions will drive more enterprise-centric opportunities, demanding strategic partnerships across vendors, system integrators, advisory firms, and hyperscalers to accelerate monetization. These partnerships must evolve beyond opportunistic relationships into long-term, strategic alliances that are grounded in shared investment, risk governance, and mutual value creation.

Key enablers for monetization and transformation

The techco shift is starting and still has a long way to go

Telecoms are moving rapidly to enable this transformation. The past year has seen dramatic shifts in operating models, workforce strategies, and the delivery of new solutions and services to meet evolving market demands. In parallel, telecoms are increasingly demanding accountability and success-based models from their partners across marketing, operations, and delivery.

This evolution represents a fundamental shift in the DNA of traditional telecom organizations. It requires not only decisive, top-down leadership but also an internal mindset shift – recognizing that this transformation cannot be achieved in isolation. Ideally, this will lead to stronger, service-oriented partnerships that deliver better outcomes and experiences for customers.

With decades of industry experience, Capgemini has helped more than 600 telecom clients across 50 countries develop and deploy customized network transformation plans to monetize network services, deliver innovative, high-value solutions, and extend business reach across the digital ecosystem. Get in touch to learn more about how we use data, analytics, AI, and cloud to help telecom operators embrace a more agile way of working in a data-driven world.