The Month in Telecoms: January 2024

We might be only a couple of weeks into the new year but there is still plenty going on around the telecoms and CPaaS market.

2023 was a transformational year in many ways, telecoms fraud hit mainstream headlines again and has since become one of the main talking points at every industry event. Although the big tech stocks bounced back after a tumultuous 2022, the publicly listed CPaaS players have taken a bit longer to rebound and 2023 turned into a bit of a hangover year. Mergers and acquisitions were a busy as ever (back to pre-pandemic levels) and it seems the industry is prime for more strategic investments this year.

Twilio Saga Continues?

Beginning with publicly listed companies; arguably the biggest fish in the communications platform pond, Twilio , announced a restructuring of the board including Jeff Lawson stepping down as CEO after over 15 years in charge.

Lawson is often cited as the Godfather of CPaaS and was one of the founders back in 2008. His resignation come amidst a battle with activist investors who have been in a well-publicised wrestle for control of the business strategy. Lawson is replaced by long term Twilio executive Khozema Shipchandler as CEO who has already made statements related to underperforming areas of the business. This seems to be an attempt to quell the pressure on the board to improve overall performance of the business.

Another industry heavyweight, Tata Communications , have been in the news again after the acquisition of Kaleyra in October last year. Despite the positive steps and clear signal of a movement into the enterprise CPaaS business, the stock value is still under significant pressure after posting a significant reduction in profitability at the end of last year. Time will tell if the acquisition of Kaleyra and the movement ‘upstream’ will help improve the overall profitability of the business. I wrote a more detailed review of the acquisition in the September edition of this newsletter.

GTC acquire Oofty

Global Telco Consult (GTC) , founded by José A. García Martín , has grown into one of the industry leading consultancies and now adds identity solutions to its portfolio through the acquisition of a majority stake in US based Oofty .

Oofty was founded in 2022 by ex- Telesign VP Guillaume Bourcy and has quickly become a thought leader in the identity and security space. This acquisition reflects the evolving messaging ecosystem and how messaging, authentication and identity go hand in hand.

Vodafone-Microsoft Strategic Partnership

Although we have seen more and more collaboration between Telcos and Hyperscalers, the latest partnership between Vodafone and 微软 is about to set a whole new level of collaboration.

The latest partnership is the first major global announcement of the year and is a far-reaching decade long strategic deal that covers platforms across multiple sectors impacting over 300 million businesses in Africa and Europe. This will transform Vodafone’s customer experience leveraging Microsoft’s AI tools, develop new digital and financial products and overhaul Vodafone’s global data centre strategy.

BTS steps further into CPaaS?

BTS has traditionally been known as a heavyweight wholesale voice player but over the past few years has been making waves in the CPaaS market with messaging, numbering and multiple other next generation products. BTS are able to leverage the impressive connectivity portfolio the business has built over 30 years.

The latest move is the acquisition of Kinecdid Networks , a New Jersey based pioneer in the virtual numbering industry. This enables BTS to instantly grow the existing connectivity base across the Caribbean and Latin America.

Kinecdid was founded by Cliff Radziewicz in 2007 and quickly became a leader in the virtual number market. The acquisition brings not only additional coverage but also state of the art technology to support improved customer experience. The additional technology fits seamlessly with the existing BTS Virtual Numbering platform.

Next big thing?

Wholesale voice player 42com Telecommunication GmbH announced last week a new partnership with messaging superstar Vladimir Smal to launch a new venture AVISO Messaging . The new venture aims to enhance the messaging industry with a transparent and reliable offering. Aviso have commited to a zero tolerance approach to fraud which has become a scourge of the A2P SMS industry over the past few years.

CEO of 42com and co-founder of Aviso, Alberto Grunstein has built a very successful voice business and this new venture will certainly help to broaden the companies assets and leverage the existing industry relationships.

Vladimir Smal has held multiple commercial roles with LANCK Telecom over the past 15 years and has built a reputation for being a very popular and highly knowledgeable messaging expert. His influence on Lanck’s rise in the messaging industry is undoubted and he has the right pedigree to drive the new business forward.?

Rocco 100

The ROCCO 100 has become the leading award for individual contributions to the Roaming and Interconnect industry. The list is decided by public votes from industry colleagues and a judge’s panel determining the most influential people in the industry over the past couple of year.? Voting is now open until 14th February so make sure to get your vote in ASAP.

I have been lucky enough to be nominated this year so if you feel this newsletter or any of my other work in the industry is of value to you then I would really appreciate your vote!

Movers and Shakers

It has been a remarkably busy couple of months when it comes to high profile moves in the industry. A lot of new opportunities and plenty of ambitious recruitment activity.

Dexatel continues to make waves as they bring on board highly regarded Eamonn Dullaghan as Director of Wholesale Business Development. Eamonn brings a wealth of experience from his time at firewall provider Anam and CPaaS heavyweight Infobip.

MrConnectivity , James Williams , has joined XConnect to head up their business development activities. His previous role at the Mobile Ecosystem Forum solidified his place as an industry leader and this seems like a natural move considering his vast network and XConnect's ambition. Working alongside a powerhouse team including Tim Ward and Eli Katz .

The popular Nadeem Ladha has stepped away from his role at TMT ID after 4 years to set up his own consultancy and fintech business.

Ever-present Nils Zimara joins the iBASIS Business Messaging team to head up the routing function. He brings a wealth of experience from Mitto, Call Trade and Twilio. This senior hire is a signal of intent from iBasis as they push hard into the messaging market following the acquisition of Dimoco last year.

As mentioned earlier in this newsletter. The Rocco 100 nominated Vladimir Smal has stepped away from LANCK Telecom after 15 years and set up his own venture Aviso Messaging alongside Alberto Grunstein and the 42com Telecommunication GmbH team.

The knowledgeable Kristina Rangelov joins Telesign as Strategic Partnerships Director in Belgrade.

Industry legend Stuart Mitchell joins eSIM Go as Senior VP of Strategy. Stuart brings a unique blend of product and commercial experience. eSim Go is quickly becoming the market leading travel virtual sim card.?

Routing expert Mathias Kamijo joins Soatso as Principal Yield Manager.?

Chris Pozzi steps between 2 juggernauts as he joins Twilio from Infobip . Chris brings extensive experience across omnichannel business messaging.?

Argentinian superstar Ruben Braunmueller is now Director of LATAM at Globe Teleservices Pte. Ltd. after 7 years at Telintel. He will bring a wealth of experience into the GTS team and opens up the region.

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