All Opex (operating expenditure) articles
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InterviewEY-Parthenon: in face of disruption, telcos must think differently about differentiation
Analysis: Can telecom operators transcend infrastructure before non-traditional challengers capture the enterprise frontier? Drawing on global C-suite research, this analysis explores why differentiation, agentic architectures and national sovereignty represent the industry’s most viable growth engines, and why defensive cost-cutting will not secure long-term relevance.
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Finance & StrategyTelia trims headcount as Europe leans on efficiency
Telia becomes the latest European telco to announce a round of job cuts, joining a trend of operators reshape workforces, decentralise decision-making, and seek higher returns from maturing fibre and 5G investments.
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Technology & ITVodafoneThree’s mega IT meld advances in ‘critical year’ for synergy delivery
As VodafoneThree’s networks integration project rolls on at pace, the complex dismantling of legacy IT has begun — and progress so far has brought confidence that the UK operator’s efficiencies and synergies programme can deliver more value than initially planned.
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Finance & StrategyVirgin Media O2 mulls cost cuts to protect cash flow and reduce leverage
As UK broadband competition continues to bite, Virgin Media O2 is considering enacting a major savings push as part of the next phase of its business turnaround strategy. Consideration of cutbacks follows recently announced cost-cutting programmes at sister businesses in Germany and Spain, accompanied by large-scale job losses.
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Finance & StrategyBT hunts for further cuts
FY25–26: after delivering its first £3bn savings goal ahead of time, and kicking on with another immediately after, BT has now expanded the programme by £700m and given itself an extra year to hit the new target.
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Finance & StrategyDT ‘open’ to deploying more fibre firepower
Q1 FY26 Spend: Group execs face questions over whether slow-moving fibre build makes strategic sense.
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NetworkFrom flying blind to found revenue: digital twins ‘digitise the handshake’ of complex telecom infra
“Time kills deals”: senior infra figures from SBA, Vertical Bridge, Singtel‑owned NCS and digital‑twin specialist vHive argue that the next productivity unlock for cell towers lies in closing the reality gap between site and system — and that the first movers will dictate how the new order works…
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PeoplewatchDT poaches Allianz exec to lead domestic IT refit
Operator snags insurance giant’s Head of Global Enterprise & IT Architecture to lead high pressure, AI-infused transformation efforts at its German business…
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Finance & StrategyDT ups the intensity to maintain momentum
FY25: DT’s divisional leaders are being pressured to maintain progress on spend efficiency and commercial impact as the Group seeks to keep its business ‘flywheel’ spinning in an uncertain and challenging macro and market environment.
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Finance & StrategyDT FY25 spend: capex lid kept tight amid macro and market murk
Group evidently remains micro-focused on cost efficiency across opex and capex, with continued belief in potential of AI and caution on fibre spend.
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Finance & StrategyTelefónica FY25 spend: Group eyes ‘big year’ on savings
With building blocks now in place for much of Telefónica’s multi-billion-euro ‘totex’ reduction plan, execs promise ‘significant’ progress on savings drive in FY26…
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NetworkNetwork operators warned: kickstart automation now or risk devaluation
Amid intensifying market consolidation, network operators can ill afford to be found delaying automation. A new white paper from FNT Software and Inmanta argues for an incremental strategy, coupling unified inventory with intent-based orchestration. Discover how BICS and Freedom Fibre leverage this ‘living model’ to slash operational costs and accelerate time-to-market…
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NetworkFrom defence to attack: CSG’s blueprint for telco AI transformation
Interview: Telcos risk losing to nimbler rivals unless they accelerate AI readiness. CSG argues that operators must simplify legacy customer systems, speed service innovation, and nurture scalable ecosystems — or face losing strategically vital B2B growth opportunities whilst defending declining legacy markets. Learn more…
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NetworkBITÉ and brown-iposs: bridging the confidence gap for Level 5 RAN automation
Mobile network autonomy need no longer be framed as science fiction, but as an engineering discipline: validate inputs, expose decision logic, and quantify impact before changing the network. Baltic mobile group BITÉ’s RAN field test of brown‑iposs’s CARAT offers an instructive lens on what it really takes to operationalise Level 5 ambitions…
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PeoplewatchSchulman’s knife: BT procurement star looks Verizon-bound, supporting massive ‘turnaround’
In-depth: Verizon seems to be adding another European Galactico to its team, tapping BT Sourced founder Cyril Pourrat to spearhead a massive efficiency drive. New CEO Dan Schulman is targeting rapid elimination of $4bn in capex and $5bn in opex, and deployment of automation at scale. Pourrat offers battle-tested digital procurement strategies to a US-supersize turnaround story…
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Finance & StrategyTelefónica firms up plan for 5,500 Spanish job cuts
Group says it has secured a financially and strategically important deal with unions on large-scale redundancies in Spain, after initiating negotiations in November. Agreement looks set to shift Telefónica about a quarter of the way to headline spend reduction goal outlined under new Transform & Grow strategic plan.
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Public AffairsUnions call on Telefónica for ‘one last effort’ on strategic reorg
Talks continue between employee reps and bosses over Group’s latest planned round of cutbacks.
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Finance & StrategyGuidance: H1 pace allows for H2 slowdown as Vodafone moves into cleaner air
Q2/H1 FY25–26: Group reaffirms FY outlook but expects to hit the upper end of earnings and free cash flow targets, buoyed by a strong first half that allows for lower growth in Q3 and Q4. Outgoing CFO Luka Mucic weighs prospects after he leaves and finds ‘net positives’…
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Finance & StrategySpend: capex down, opex up as Vodafone reaches ‘appropriate’ scale
Q2/H1 FY25–26: with the Group’s capital structure ‘reset’, CEO Margherita Della Valle considers investment levels to be at the right level in each market: spend balloons at newly scaled UK, Germany finds efficiencies and reduces capex, broadly stable elsewhere.
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Finance & StrategySpend: BT leaning on AI, job cuts to fuel cost-savings agenda
Q2/H1 FY25–26: cost-cutting agenda running ahead of schedule, and more momentum could be added as AI is deployed more widely and new Chief Digital Officer Peter Leukert gets his hands dirty. Headcount cuts are another major earnings driver as Business and Openreach shrink back…