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Get monthly executive insights to power your telco transformation
All these years, telcos have bravely held back the tides.
Familiar culprits like rising costs, declining average revenue per user (ARPU), and increasing customer expectations have been putting immense pressure on telcos to evolve.
Major telcos are hard at work. Vodafone1 is committing $1.5 billion over ten years to a Microsoft partnership to enhance customer service, and hiring 7,000 engineers to modernize its software. Others, such as Telkomsel, KDDI, and e&, invest in digital-native sub-brands to capture a younger, tech-savvy audience.
However, digital transformation is a tricky subject, rife with failure for those who fail to plan.
When not handled well, the phrase ‘digital transformation’ can elicit eye-rolling from staff and be dismissed as corporate jargon. Without a clear definition of what digital transformation means to your telco, your project could join the 70% of inside-out digital transformations that fail.
Without a clear playbook or even a clear definition of a digital transformation, your efforts could fall prey to fragmented strategies, reusing legacy systems, and not knowing what the transformation is supposed to achieve, let alone measure its impact.
Having worked alongside telcos worldwide to transform them away from legacy operations into digital-native telcos digitally, we have developed a proven definition of a techco along with field-tested digital transformation playbooks that we would like to share with you.
Like digital transformation, the term ‘techco’ also risks becoming meaningless marketing jargon when not handled well.
In our experience with partners in Japan, the Middle East, and Indonesia, a clear definition of an ideal techco, or an ideal digital mobile operator (iDMO), should clearly explain its value to various stakeholders in measurable terms.
An iDMO needs to be customer-centric, innovate rapidly, and diversify its services beyond connectivity, all while keeping costs sustainable to maintain profitability.
To achieve these characteristics, an iDMO’s digital transformation is driven by three pillars:
An iDMO excels at three pillars that drive its digital transformation:
These pillars and their measures build up to a few key outcomes:
These are not hypothetical outcomes—Circles has worked with leading telcos, such as KDDI (povo 2.0) and onic (Pakistan’s first digital telco), to implement ideal DMO-driven transformations and achieve real business gains.
In summary, an iDMO is customer-centric, innovates rapidly, and diversifies its services beyond connectivity while maintaining profitability. The iDMO playbook sees your telco embracing the pillars of Connect, Delight, and Beyond to offer high NPS customer experiences, increased average revenue per user, and greater profitability.
Here’s how the iDMO playbook was successfully applied in Japan:
KDDI, a longstanding and trusted leader in Japan’s mobile industry, faced a challenge. In a country with 125 million2 tech-savvy people,3 how could KDDI stand out with competitors competing on price and a growing demand for cheaper mobile plans?
The answer was povo2.0, Japan’s first fully digital 5G telco. By leveraging Circles’ full-stack SaaS platform, KDDI built povo2.0 with agility, personalization, and engagement at its core—offering a flexible, app-driven experience that puts customers in control.
Here’s how the iDMO playbook’s Connect, Delight, and Beyond pillars shaped povo2.0 into a digital telco success story.
Povo2.0 was designed to redefine mobile connectivity in Japan, removing unnecessary complexity while giving power back to consumers.
By focusing on plan flexibility, fast time to value, and ease of use, povo2.0 established itself as a telco designed for modern consumers.
As KDDI Digital Life’s CEO, Toshiro Akiyama, puts it:
“People want more control and convenience at their fingertips. Our goal is to offer an outstanding user experience for digital-native customers.”
In today’s digital economy, customer experience is a moving target—brands must adapt quickly to meet shifting expectations. Povo2.0 was built to be agile, allowing KDDI to refine and enhance the user experience continuously.
This focus on real-time adaptation and seamless innovation has led to outstanding customer satisfaction. povo2.0 now boasts a <b>+30 Net Promoter Score (NPS)</b> and was named “Telecom Company of the Year” at the Asian Telecom Awards 2022.
Povo2.0 goes beyond connectivity by continuously innovating engaging digital experiences that keep users engaged and satisfied with the brand.
By going beyond basic connectivity, povo2.0 has positioned itself as not just a telco but a lifestyle enabler, fostering deeper customer relationships while unlocking new revenue streams.
You can read more about Circles’ innovation engine here.
povo2.0 exemplifies how modern telcos can thrive by embracing the iDMO playbook. With Circles’ full-stack telco SaaS, KDDI has built Japan’s most agile and customer-centric digital telco, driving both customer satisfaction and business growth.
For telcos looking to future-proof their business, the success of povo2.0 proves that digital transformation isn’t just about upgrading technology—it’s about rethinking how telcos engage, innovate, and monetize in a digital-first world.
You can read povo2.0’s full case study here.
In addition to the iDMO playbook, we are also developing a digital quotient measure (DQ) that telcos can use to gauge their digital transformation progress. The digital quotient will focus on business outcomes such as brand power, app experience, diversification beyond non-core and customer experience.
Stay tuned for our upcoming article that dives deeper into DQ!
At Circles, we don’t just talk about digital transformation—we build and operate successful DMOs while helping telcos like yours prepare for a digital native future.
Our full-stack telco software is designed to help telcos become iDMOs by providing the agility, automation, and customer-centric tools needed to thrive in a digital-first world.
Curious about how we can help you now?
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