Telecoms carriers which did not “own and control their software stack” may not have a product to offer their customers and could be risking their future survival, according to AT&T Entertainment’s chief executive John Stankey.
Stankey’s warning was issued at a Mobile World Congress keynote session on the digital economy on Monday, in which he urged legacy carriers not to focus on the “Gs of 5G or the number of gigs,” but on “wrapping software” around their products to make them more attractive to customers.
“If we carriers and services providers don’t get off the dime, we are going to be left behind,” he said, adding that carriers would become “victims” of the connectivity they had created.
“It is the customers’ world and we are just living in it. Their voice has never been stronger and the reality is that the socially connected always on world that we have created has also helped tip the balance of power.”
Adapting to this new reality was a 'big pivot' and might be uncomfortable for traditional carriers “but they need to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable. The reality is that value chains are compressing,” Stankey said.
“Value chains are being sucked out by the very value chains we created, and then transferred back to the consumer in terms of greater utility and value.”
The AT&T Entertainment chief, whose remit now includes DirecTV with Time Warner – potentially – soon to be added, said that the previous strategy by carriers had “failed to value customers.”
“We offered them pre-packaged solutions when they craved customization,” he said.
“We added steps, hoops, rules and requirements when simpler models were emerging everywhere.
“We perfected the model of offering customers more for more, but in truth they want more for less.”