Last month TelcoForge accessed a set of mostly C-level and SVP-level experts from across the telecoms community, in our first monthly Leaders’ Meeting. While conversations took place under Chatham House rules, the participants agreed to the key issues and results of the discussion being published – so you all get to hear what senior executives really think.
Each month we will tackle a different topic, but to kick things off we explored the question of how we deliver communications seamlessly regardless of access network. Twenty years ago we talked about fixed-mobile convergence. in 3G “UMTS” was meant to deliver this. Now in 6G people are talking about a network of networks that would deliver services across fixed, mobile and satellite assets.
It sounds like a good idea… so why didn’t we get this sorted out decades ago? And what would have to change to achieve it today?
The topic is representative of many initiatives which the telecoms industry starts, but which don’t lead far. By looking at this example, we can gain insights into some of the structural challenges haunting us… and what to do about them.
Conversation was packed with insights from across domains from devices, vendors, telcos, infrastructure players, other industries, government and regulation. It ranged over a huge swathe of interrelated topics, the least problematic of which is technology. Now you can access all the insights in a 16-page report available to read and download here:
https://telcoforge.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Leaders-Meeting-Jan-2025-Access-Agnostic.pdf
Contents
You’ll find frank opinions from industry veterans about:
- Where leaders see demand for these access-agnostic services, and what approaches to deliver them might look like.
- Where the alternatives to telco-led models are playing out, and who is winning that business.
- What hurdles from business pressures, mindset and regulation present problems.
- Where the industry is already going through changes that might lead to solutions.
- Recommendations that would or could open up the structure of the industry to greater opportunities.
We hope you find it useful – feedback would be very welcome! If you think we’ve missed important points, If you have anyone you’d like to add to the invitation list for future meetings, or topics you’d like us to raise with executives, drop a line to alex.lawrence@telcoforge.com.
Please note, this report is a full version of the short summary article we published here.
Image by Pixlr AI
