Reinventing telecoms: Beyond the buzzwords

Telecoms are under pressure. Commoditisation, digitisation, and rising competition are reshaping the industry faster than the dot‑com era. It’s a clear signal that reinvention can’t wait.

Our recent report, Telecom operators appear to be reinventing their business models. But are they really?, explores what practical, sustainable reinvention looks like.

Two priorities stand out:

• Building strategic, separate, specialised business units (BUs).
• Empowering those BUs with the right attributes to deliver value.

Leading telecoms are shifting to modular BUs—a structure we call the puretone model. The puretone model is about simplifying telecom companies by breaking them into focused, independent business units so each can perform better and create more value. It’s a move away from vertical integration towards clarity, sharper commercial focus, and capital efficiency.

These BUs cover a wide range of distinct roles within the telecom’s ecosystem. Some own and monetise infrastructure such as towers, fibre, and data centres. Others operate networks and wholesale capacity. There are also digital platforms that orchestrate and sell white‑label services, for example enabling brands to launch virtual operators. Some specialise in building bespoke technology and connectivity solutions for enterprises. These focused BUs attract specialist investors and expand the ways telecoms reach and serve new markets.

But structure alone won’t deliver results. Success depends on how each BU is empowered to act, invest, and compete. Africa’s fintech playbook shows the impact of getting it right.

Africa’s telecoms led the world in fintech and mobile money innovation. These solutions succeeded as purpose‑built BUs with the freedom to innovate, the independence to scale, and a clear mandate to solve genuine market needs for the consumer.

It showed what’s possible when operators design new businesses with autonomy, focus, and clear strategic intent from the outset.

Yet infrastructure spinoffs and digital platforms haven’t delivered the same uplift, even when they’ve been structurally separated. This leaves a clear question: what separates the puretones that outperform from those that stall?

We assessed more than 30 operators globally using PwC’s outside-in reinvention readiness diagnostics. It highlights the characteristics that define whether a BU is set up to win. The six signals are:

• Clarity in mission: Is your value story clear and compelling?
• Accountable leadership: Do your leaders have the authority to deliver?
• Profit and loss (P&L) integrity: Do you have full visibility over BU performance?
• Ability to invest: Can you allocate capital where it matters?
• Capability autonomy: Does each BU control its own talent, tech and processes?
• Competitive viability: Can each BU compete without internal support?

Together, these signals show where an operator sits on the reinvention curve—Reframe, Reconfigure or Reinvent—and how Africa’s telecoms measure against their global peers.

Interested in where your business lands on these six signals? Connect with us for a personalised reinvention readiness conversation.

Africa scores 66.5 on reinvention readiness, just under the global average of 68.2. The regional average score is on the cusp of the “reconfigure” stage, where BU optimisation and transact‑to‑transform strategies start to unlock meaningful value.

Three characteristics stand out against the global trends as areas to strengthen:

• Competitive viability
• P&L integrity and control
• Accountable leadership

Competitive viability reflects the challenge many BUs face when they step outside the scale and customer base of the core telecom. The other two signal the need to adapt reporting, as well as people and organisational strategies, so BUs operate with clearer visibility and greater autonomy.

These gaps are where the opportunity lies for Africa’s telecom leaders to drive reinvention at pace:

• Reduce dependence on intercompany revenues, so BUs reflect their true performance and commercial potential outside the group.
• Revamp financial reporting to track BU‑critical KPIs that give leaders clarity and investors’ confidence.
• Streamline commercial decision paths within group structures to improve agility and align decisions with BU strategies.
• Build BUs as an independent, competitive brand that can compete beyond the parent telecom’s reach and reputation.
• Empower BU executives with clear authority and incentives to act in the BU’s best interest, backed by BU‑linked KPIs and remuneration.

These shifts give Africa’s telecoms a clear path to elevate their reinvention readiness and move with confidence to unlock value.

Africa’s operators have a clear opportunity to move decisively into the “reinvent” stage and strengthen their market position with improved financial performance. Our research shows that operators who make this shift capture meaningful strategic and valuation advantages.

Infrastructure separation is underway, and digital platforms are gaining momentum, yet leadership autonomy and financial transparency remain elusive. Capital is still constrained, and much of the region’s value sits inside vertically integrated portfolios that no longer reflect how the market grows.

Global peers show what’s possible when reinvention goes further. Telstra’s InfraCo spin-off drove a 35% share price uplift. Jio Platforms attracted over US$20bn in investment and increased their enterprise valuation multiple significantly by building a digital ecosystem that spans payments, retail, and media. In fact, telecoms in the “reinvent” stage enjoy valuation premiums of 30% to 50% over their more traditional counterparts.

Africa’s telecom leaders can unlock value by empowering BUs to act with clarity, scale, and commercial freedom, directing capital to where it delivers returns and reshaping portfolios to release trapped value.

It’s a moment for decisive leadership. Are you ready to reframe, reconfigure, and reinvent?