The telecommunications sector is one of the most volatile industries in terms of the tenure of chief executives of companies, who face one of the highest turnover rates, according to consulting firm Booz & Co. With recent high profile changes at the top at telecoms companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola, Vodafone and Vodacom, Michelle Mills explores the dynamics in managing succession plans in the telecoms arena and the skills set required to survive the corner office

The spate of changes of top management at leading telecoms firms across the globe in the last two years suggests that the industry is unrelenting in its pursuit of the best talent necessary to lead telecoms companies – be they technology providers or service operators – in what has become an especially complex industry.

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Last December, Vodafone scored a number of firsts by being awarded a mobile licence in Qatar. Vodafone became the first European operator to win a mobile licence in the Gulf, and the opportunity stands out as the first greenfield investment Vodafone has undertaken since acquiring a licence in Egypt ten years ago. In an exclusive interview, Vodafone Qatar CEO, Grahame Maher explains why this prospect is set to change how Vodafone does business in the region, and how success in Qatar will be exported across the region

Grahame Maher, CEO Vodafone Qatar

Every significant operator in the Gulf had expressed an interest in the second mobile licence in Qatar, and its award to a consortium comprising Vodafone and the Qatar Foundation last December came as something of a surprise to onlookers. Qatar’s telecoms regulator, ictQatar, did not do itself any favours by reviewing the final stages of the bid process behind closed doors and not publicising the amount of the winning consortium’s pledge for some time after the winner was announced.

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Almost every market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has at least two mobile network operators, and fixed-network markets are becoming increasingly liberalised. However, the region is idling in value-to-market development by competing facilities-based operators, and new competitive development may be reinforced by service-based operators, found a new study by Booz & Company.

Increased competition has driven market players to be more efficient, offer better services, an improved product portfolio, better pricing, better customer care, and an improved customer experience. However Booz & Co. has identified the absence of service-based competition, and describes why it ought to be introduced.

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As a strategy-led publication, we are often asked to forecast what we believe to be the trends that will dominate the telecoms space in the coming years. It’s a hard question to answer, not least because technology develops at such a pace, but also because experience has shown certain developments that had been predicted to become sure fire successes, failed while others that the industry may not necessarily have intentionally fostered, have gone on to become significant winners.

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Change in selected handset manufacturer’s quarterly performance from Q107 to Q208. Continue reading →