Interview with CEO Torbjørn Teigen
Telenor Global Services has onboarded its first managed roaming customer. Why has this been an important step?
We have had end-to-end wholesale roaming responsibility for all the Telenor affiliates for many years. We have seen that utilizing scale and having a centralized approach is key.
In a market that becomes more consolidated, we see a need – especially for non-group affiliated MNOs – to get support and access to scale.
Through our experience, we see that Telenor can offer value for those MNOs and ultimately increase the customer experience. The agreement with Telkom South Africa proves that we live up to our promise and that they trust us with the end-to-end responsibility of their wholesale roaming business.
Going forward, what is required for a player in the industry to be successful?
For us in Telenor, there is really only one thing: customer experience. To us this means in particular two things.
First, in a time where change is the only constant, we are passionate about being a long-term trusted partner for our customers. Being partners, our goal is to create win-win situations in all we do and driving simplification in the industry for the better good of end user needs. Trust is of course the key ingredient to a meaningful relationship. We want to earn that trust by staying connected to our partners during the entire sales journey: simpler wholesale means better retail.
Second, we are constantly focused on reskilling and upskilling ourselves to maintain a competitive edge. Our role is to enable opportunities for our partners as the industry evolves. Right now, we are developing our offerings towards the new future of IoT and 5G. It is vital to be prepared and enabled for the future, and we are here to guide our partners on this journey.
When contemplating a scenario of outsourcing of your services, the most vital key is to choose a partner that you can trust and that will be there with you in the long run. This is our pledge to our customers.