Smartphones have become an essential part of our daily routines, and with the rapid advancement of mobile communications technologies, consumers have long taken for granted the seamless mobile data experience provided by telecom operators.

Yet despite all these developments, operators’ revenue growth has stagnated, and the telecoms industry’s overall profitability has been steadily declining. A 2025 PwC report  predicts that over the next three years, the telecom industry’s global revenues will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) below the projected global inflation rate—a substantial slowdown compared to the previous decade’s growth trajectory.

With revenues  from traditional telecoms services in decline due to structural shifts in technology, consumer behavior and competition, telecom operators around the world are seeking to unlock a second growth curve, with cloud computing emerging as a key enabler. More operators are now accelerating their transformation from traditional telecommunications service providers (telcos) to technology companies (so-called “techcos”).

Through this transition, they aim to unlock new growth opportunities by innovating business models and enhancing service capabilities.

Challenges Standing in the Way of Telco-to-Techco Transformation

In a recent report, KPMG identified two critical challenges facing telecom operators: First, B2C revenue growth rates have stagnated under mounting price competition and operators’ offerings are becoming commoditized. Second, innovation has been slow—legacy architectures, systems, and processes struggle to keep up with the pace of agile innovation, while the burden of sustaining infrastructure investments continues to grow.

To truly transform into techcos, telecom operators must modernize legacy IT architectures and processes; innovate business models; and ensure security and compliance. In the process, they should also develop future-oriented technological capabilities and service systems.

1. Modernizing Legacy IT Architectures

Operators’ legacy IT systems are often extraordinarily complex. A single operator may operate hundreds of service systems, many utilizing technologies of different generations. Individual applications frequently consist of multiple systems running in parallel, creating complex system stacks.

To make matters worse, these systems are often deployed in different environments, leading to problems like ineffective cross-system collaboration, inefficient management and maintenance, and slow upgrade and evolution. Fault locating and troubleshooting have become increasingly complex.

Meanwhile, B2C service systems require fast updates and iterations. Legacy architectures cannot keep up with fast-growing demands. Operators urgently need to adopt a unified technology architecture to consolidate different service systems. They also need to integrate AI capabilities to enable intelligent recognition, scheduling, and warning—creating a streamlined, high-precision operational framework.

2. Innovating Business Models

In the traditional B2C market, operators can no longer sustain revenue growth by selling SIM cards and mobile data plans alone. Facing mounting price competition, operators’ B2C offerings are becoming increasingly commoditized. Yet more personalized services are required to meet users’ digital lifestyle needs.

To optimize their current revenue structure, operators must transition from connectivity services to personalized, value-added SaaS offerings. Examples include cloud storage, cloud phones, and household-based computing power. Such services must be closely aligned with consumers’ daily use scenarios and target genuine user needs.

3. Ensuring Customer Data Security and Compliance

Most countries in the EU, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific have released laws and regulations governing data sovereignty and privacy protection. Operators must ensure strict compliance with all applicable data localization and compliance requirements. They must also prevent unauthorized cross-border transfers of sensitive information and guarantee data lifecycle security.

Embracing the Cloud: The Key Foundation Underpinning Operators’ Second Growth Curve

Initially, cloud adoption focused primarily on optimizing resource utilization within enterprises’ in-house data centers. Later, they recognized a critical truth: data trapped in silos delivers no value. The key is to activate dormant data assets on the cloud and unleash their value to transform production and operational efficiency.

This is also the key to operators’ cloud transformation today. With the rapid advances of new technologies such as AI and big data, leading operators are moving beyond basic cloud migration. They are now harnessing next-generation cloud capabilities to pioneer innovative solutions, redefining what’s possible through cloud-native innovation.

Huawei Cloud Stack offers on-premises cloud infrastructure tailored to enterprise needs. Powered by continuous innovation, it delivers a secure, reliable, and efficient hybrid cloud, enabling organizations to take a deep dive into the cloud to unlock digital productivity while meeting compliance requirements.

Huawei Cloud Stack provides a range of scenario-specific solutions to telecom operators, including Carrier Big Data, AICC, Carrier Fintech, Smart City, Smart Education, Cloud Storage, and Cloud Phone s. They help operators enhance internal operational efficiency while exploring new growth opportunities and new competitive advantages in a highly versatile market, allowing them to eventually unlock a second growth curve.

Typical scenario  1: Carrier FinTech—the power behind mobile payment

Scanning a QR code enables everything from retail purchases and utility payments to instant money transfers. Mobile payments have seamlessly integrated into our everyday routines. In many emerging markets, this convenient experience is not delivered by banks or Internet companies, but by telecom operators. Using their mobile accounts, users can top up their phones, make payments, transfer money, and even apply for small loans on their mobile phones. In such a case, operators are making financial services more inclusive.

To support these innovative services, Huawei Cloud Stack uses an on-premises, hybrid cloud architecture to ensure service agility and localized data storage. Mission-critical data stays within operators’ secure premises at all times. While ensuring regulatory compliance, Huawei Cloud Stack helps operators build localized financial cloud platforms with accelerated time-to-market for new applications.

Typical scenario 2: AICC, 24/7 intelligent customer service, instant responses

When talking to a telecom customer service number, nobody wants to wait in a long line or to be asked to repeat their question over and over again without getting a satisfactory answer. Customers want to be able to access services anytime, anywhere, and through any channel, such as voice calls, web pages, SMS or in-app messages, and social media accounts. Customers want instant responses.

To deliver this seamless, multi-touchpoint service experience, Huawei Cloud Stack has developed an Artificial Intelligence Contact Center (AICC) solution featuring high availability and disaster recovery capabilities. The solution supports a cross-AZ active-active architecture to ensure 24/7 services. Furthermore, ManageOne enables multi-level permissions management, which can be easily matched to operators’ complex organizational structure and service systems. From AI voice analysis and automatic shift scheduling to virtual human customer service, customer service systems can turn from call centers into smart experience hubs, helping operators enhance service efficiency and user satisfaction.

Typical scenario 3: cloud phones for user experience upgrades

In many regions, a significant number of users are still using 2G networks or feature phones. They cannot access digital experiences such as mobile video services and mobile office applications, services many of us have long taken for granted. The dual challenges of high device replacement costs and adoption barriers frequently prevent these users from transitioning to 4G or 5G.

With Huawei Cloud Stack’s cloud phone solution, operators can provide cloud phones to users with preinstalled, cloud-based applications such as games and office tools. The platform supports robust data backup and permission control for these cloud phones, ensuring data security while maintaining a seamless user experience. This new business model helps operators quickly convert their 2G/3G subscriber base to 4G/5G and increase the average revenue per user.

Transformation is Happening All Over the World

Huawei Cloud Stack has served close to 100 operators worldwide, reaching over two billion end users. It has become an important foundation that is powering operators’ localized cloud transformation.

Ethio telecom, a major driving force behind the Digital Ethiopia 2030 Vision and the nation’s digital transformation, has built Africa’s largest carrier B2B cloud on Huawei Cloud Stack. Serving over 90 customers in Ethiopia, including key government ministries, banks, and local Internet companies, this cloud platform is accelerating nationwide digital transformation across critical sectors.

China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK), Hong Kong’s leading telecom operator, has successfully deployed an enterprise-grade container cloud platform powered by Huawei Cloud Stack, and has migrated all its mission-critical service systems to this cloud platform. This has allowed the operator to improve resource utilization, enhance business continuity, and develop future-proof evolution capabilities. The cloud container engine (CCE) enables 30% faster application development and allows the platform to handle 10x traffic spikes.

With the further integration of networks, data, and computing infrastructure, the role of telecom operators in the industry value chain is being redefined. This transformation is accelerating and set to radically transform the telecoms industry landscape. Operators who successfully make the transition from telco to techco ahead of the competition will gain a decisive strategic advantage.