Operators are under growing pressure to keep investing in their networks, find new ways to generate revenue and hold on to customers as more digital services compete for their attention.
But there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.
What works for a mature European operator may look very different in Africa, where growth, affordability and financial inclusion are bigger priorities. The Gulf is taking yet another route, with operators moving quickly into digital services, AI and enterprise technology.
Monty Mobile operates across all three markets, giving the company a broad view of how priorities are changing, and where operators can find their next opportunities.
Three markets, three priorities
“Europe is seen as a ‘step ahead’ on average. But that’s not the full picture either, Africa has its own leaders of change, and the Gulf is a separate story entirely. The Gulf, for example, is far more advanced than most of Europe,” Monty Mobile CEO, Hassan Mansour tells Mobile Europe.
In Europe, operators are largely focused on getting greater value from mature networks and existing infrastructure.
“When I sit with European operators, the real question they’re sitting with is how to get more out of what they’ve already built,” he says.
However, that is a very different challenge from the one facing many African markets, where the priority is still expanding access while building new digital services.
“In Africa, the conversation is about capturing growth that’s already happening and building the right products around it, especially in financial inclusion,” he continues.
“Turning a connectivity relationship into a financial one, a wallet, a credit history, sometimes someone’s first real financial identity. It’s about upgrading from older networks to modern ones in an affordable and sustainable way. “
Additionally, the Gulf is operating at another level, with operators investing heavily in digital infrastructure and enterprise services, while looking at AI and other technologies as part of wider national digital strategies.
“Europe is optimising mature networks. The Gulf is building out digital infrastructure and services. And most of Africa is focused on growing affordable data usage and financial inclusion and closing the basic access gap,” Mansour says.
Europe isn’t necessarily the benchmark
He says: “The biggest misconception is that MEA is just Europe, a few years behind. People assume the opportunity is to take the same products and the same business models and export them. It doesn’t work that way.
According to Mansour, the Gulf has developed a strong position in enterprise digital transformation, while African operators have built businesses that extend well beyond connectivity.
He continues: “Europe’s biggest barrier is that the revenue growth it generates isn’t enough to fund the investment it needs. Operators are trying to work around that, but the problem doesn’t go away, it’s structural to a mature market. Compare that to the GCC, and that obstacle simply doesn’t exist there in the same way. “
“MEA operators have the opposite problem, the demand is there and it’s massive, but the fight is turning that demand into money efficiently, keeping fraud from eating into it, and managing what capital costs to deploy.”
Moving beyond the network
That broader approach is central to where Monty Mobile sees the telecom industry heading, the CEO of Monty Mobile, explains.
“Operators own extraordinary infrastructure, reach, data and customer trust. But the next chapter can’t just be about carrying more traffic,” Mansour says.
“It must be about turning the network into a more intelligent, secure and commercially powerful backbone.
“We’re moving from connectivity into intelligence, using AI, automation and real-time analytics to help operators understand what’s happening across their networks, protect revenues, optimise traffic and make better commercial decisions faster.”
Technology still requires trust
Despite the industry’s focus on AI, 5G, eSIM and digital infrastructure, there is a less technical issue that ultimately determines whether many of these investments succeed.
He explains: “This industry gets talked about mostly in terms of technology, 5G, AI, eSIM, infrastructure etc. But in every conversation, I’ve had, whether it’s Europe, the Gulf, or Africa, it always comes back to trust.
“Trust between an operator and its customers, trust between operators and the partners they work with, trust in the network holding up when it matters.”
“The regions differ, the challenges differ, the technology keeps changing. But honesty and trust are what hold all of it together,” he concludes.
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