A tale of two telecoms: A look into the industry’s future
Imagine this scenario: About eight years ago, in 2017, the boards of two telecom carriers decided it was time to make some radical changes — in fact, the intent was nothing short of reinventing these two businesses.
Each company’s board could see the writing on the wall: Technology companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon and smaller over-the-top companies were winning in apps, content, advertising, the cloud, and the Internet of Things. Aggressive challengers and alternative carriers were slashing prices, and many of the other established carriers were already looking for ways to respond. Growth was stalling, the usual cost-cutting measures had reached their limit, and dividend and debt commitments were tying their hands financially. Clearly, maintaining the status quo was a recipe for irrelevance and slow death.
Now, eight years later — in 2025 — these companies look nothing like their former selves. One of them, which we are calling BaseLink, has become the undisputed leader in providing the connected infrastructure of several countries’ digital economies and the darling of investors looking for dividend income. The other, which we call DigiLife, has transformed itself into a ubiquitous global data platform and digital lifestyle and experience brand. Competing successfully with the likes of Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook, it is being hailed by growth investors as the stock to own.
In their determination to transform themselves, BaseLink and DigiLife took divergent paths. Yet each succeeded spectacularly. Their success is a tribute to their understanding of the nature of the telecom industry close to a decade ago, their vision for the future, and their ability to execute that vision. Their stories about the very different paths they took serve as a lesson for telecoms seeking to survive and thrive in the coming years.
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