New challenges await telecommunication companies in Europe: The cost-cutting strategies that have boosted growth and profits in the past have long since exhausted their potential. Until 2007, telcos were still able to increase profits by as much as 7% per annum. Since 2008, however, this upsurge has given way to a constant decline of around 2% a year – and there is no sign of an end to this negative trend in the years ahead.

"Telcos have been too complacent about their business models for too long," explains Philipp Leutiger, Partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. "That has precipitated their downward slide in recent years." To return to profitable growth, he adds, they must alter their strategies and create leaner corporate structures. Roland Berger's experts show exactly how this can be done in their study "Lean Telco. Redefining the telecom business – from cost-cutting to smart efficiency". At its core, Lean Telco is all about enabling companies to respond flexibly to the market conditions around them – and to cut operating costs by up to 20% in the process.