Telecoms is entering a new era of opportunity. Are CSPs ready?

Uncover the findings

Breaking the cycle of missed opportunities

A confidence gap persists between the opportunities telecoms organisations identify and the capabilities they have in place to pursue them.

Based on interviews with more than 450 industry leaders worldwide, this report quantifies that gap – and identifies how telco leaders can move from ambition to execution as the industry enters a defining era.

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Confidence is high. Execution will be the differentiator

From 5G standalone to AI-driven operations and cloud-native platforms, the capabilities required to capture the next wave of growth are clear.

Yet around 70% of CSPs have yet to deploy them at scale. Specifically, around 6 out of 10 haven’t started to implement advanced 5G technologies including 5G standalone. Confidence remains high – but progress is not keeping pace. And the window to capture what’s next is narrowing.

90.00 %

confident about capturing new opportunities

86.00 %

confident about monetizing 5G

~ 70.00 %

yet to implement key technologies

59.00 %

have barely begun to rollout 5G standalone

The biggest missed opportunities

This gap between confidence and execution is not new. It reflects a pattern organisations have repeated before.

IoT platforms, OTT monetization and digital identity stand out as some of the industry’s most significant missed opportunities. While priorities vary by region, the pattern is consistent: opportunities are identified early, but rarely scaled. As a result, value created within telecoms ecosystems is ultimately captured elsewhere.

Top missed opportunities

#1 : IoT platforms

#2 : Monetizing OTT services

#3 : Digital identity

"From AI to 5G, the opportunity ahead for the telecom industry is clear. Operators are aligned on the capabilities required but the challenge is limited adoption, and closing this execution gap will determine who turns ambition into real growth."

- Razvan Teslaru, VP and Head of Strategy, Cloud Software and Services, Ericsson

Breaking the cycle

Time and again, CSPs have identified major growth opportunities and failed to capture them at scale. Why?

Organisations know where growth lies, but many lack the capabilities to deliver at speed. Legacy IT and operations remain the number one barrier. An internal skills gap and lack of collaboration with technology and service providers have also hardened into structural constraints that slow even well-intentioned organizations.

Can the industry move forward?

57% of telecoms leaders say meaningful progress has been made in learning from past missed opportunities (see bar chart). But only a small minority believe those lessons have been fully embedded.

The result is a middle ground: growing awareness and some improvement. However, execution is still catching up with ambition.

To what extent do you think the telecoms industry has successfully learned the lessons of past missed opportunities?

Fully - every telco has completely redesigned its approach to innovation
Mostly - a lot of telcos have made significant progress in increasing their agility
Partly - telcos have made progress but still face structural issues
Slightly - telcos recognise the problems but haven't acted decisively

Capturing the next wave of growth

There is growing recognition that future success will depend on the ability to scale services rapidly and experiment more freely.

Ericsson is helping operators make this shift by moving to simpler, more flexible deployment models, combining cloud-native and AI architectures, SaaS-based platforms and ecosystem partnerships to reduce complexity and accelerate execution, closing the gap between ambition and execution.

84%

say future growth is dependent on the ability to rapidly scale service deployments

Ready to capture the next wave of growth?

Explore the findings from the research and discover how leading operators are closing the gap between confidence and capability.

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Network APIs

With network APIs, developers can easily access advanced 5G capabilities provided by service providers. This unlocks the opportunity to develop new enhanced applications and services, driving new opportunities for the entire ecosystem.

Business and Operations Support Systems

Legacy IT is what often hold telcos back. Transforming OSS/BSS is essential to capture new growth. The right solutions break down data silos, simplify complex processes, and replace outdated systems. This means you can act faster, innovate more, and serve your customers better.

5G Core solutions

Speed and flexibility are key for capturing new opportunities, and it starts with an agile core network. To increase adoption of cloud-native and AI operations, Ericsson offer simplification through a suite of industrialization solutions.

Ericsson On-Demand

A new way to deploy and scale mobile core services, complementing the existing network with a SaaS-based 5G Core. Fast, simple and without the overhead.