Telecommunications
For fibre operators, ISPs, mobile and business telecoms providers. We connect build, order, billing and marketing data so take-up, payback and churn are measured.
Our perspective
A full-fibre operator can pass a home in weeks and wait years for it to buy. With build ahead of take-up, the figures that decide value are cost per premises passed, take-up by build phase, the cost to acquire and connect a customer and churn in the first contract term. They usually sit in different systems: the build tracker, the order and provisioning platform, billing and the marketing accounts. We connect them so an operator can see which areas, offers and channels pay back, and which are only adding premises to the coverage map.
Market signals
01
Full fibre was available to 24.9 million UK homes, 82% of the total, in January 2026. Take-up across all premises reached 12.4 million connections, 47% of premises with access.
02
UK landline services are moving to a digital network by January 2027 as the PSTN is withdrawn. The number of landline customers on the PSTN fell from 5.2 million in July 2024 to 3.2 million in July 2025.
03
ITU estimated that 6.0 billion people were online in 2025 and 2.2 billion remained offline. 5G accounted for more than a third of all mobile broadband subscriptions.
How we help clients
Take-up and payback by build area
TF-08FinanceBuild cost, premises passed, orders and revenue joined by area and phase show the take-up curve and payback period of each build, and which areas to market harder before building more.
Acquisition cost by channel and offer
TF-04GrowthCampaigns, door-to-door, retail partners and referrals measured to installed, billing customers give a cost per connected customer by channel and offer.
Order to activation
TF-07OperationsWe map each step from order to live service, record the time and failure reasons at each, and automate the hand-offs that cause missed installation appointments.
Build, OSS, BSS and billing data in one model
TF-06Technology & DataAddress, network, order and billing records matched on a common premises key, so coverage, sales and revenue figures can be reconciled to each other.
Churn prediction and retention
TF-05AIUsage, fault, payment and contract data used to score customers approaching the end of their term, with retention offers tested against a control group.
Subscriber and network data for transactions
TF-03M&AFor a buyer or seller of a network or customer base, we test subscriber, revenue and premises data against source records before the numbers go into a valuation.
What changes next
The PSTN switch-off deadline
Landlines move to digital services by January 2027. Business customers with alarms, lift lines, payment terminals and telecare devices on analogue lines need migration plans, and providers who track those lines by customer can sell the replacement before the deadline.
Build slowing, competition for customers rising
Ofcom's May 2026 report found operators' total planned build lower than a year earlier, with full fibre potentially reaching 92% of homes by the end of 2028 if all plans are realised. As build slows, the value of a network depends more on take-up in areas already passed.
Traffic patterns changing with AI
Ericsson's June 2026 report notes uplink traffic growing faster than downlink for many service providers. Capacity plans and product tiers built around download speeds will need revisiting.
Business challenges
01
Premises passed reported, take-up assumed
Investor reports lead with premises passed. Take-up by area and phase is harder to produce because build and billing data use different address keys.
02
Marketing measured on leads
Campaigns are judged on cost per lead or per order. Orders that fail installation or cancel in the cooling-off period never reach the marketing report.
03
Installations that fail on the day
Wayleave gaps, blocked ducts and missed appointments are recorded in field notes. Nobody sees how many orders are lost at installation or why.
04
Churn found at the end of the contract
Customers leave when the minimum term ends and a competitor offers a lower price. Without a score built from usage, faults and payments, retention offers go to everyone or no one.
Where the opportunity sits
Marketing spend directed to passed premises with low take-up
Take-up by area shows where marketing can add customers to network already built, often at a lower cost than building new coverage.
Cost per connected, billing customer
Measuring acquisition to the first bill shows which channels bring customers who stay past the cooling-off period.
Retention offers aimed at the right customers
A churn score tested against a control group shows whether a retention offer keeps customers who would otherwise leave, or only discounts those who would have stayed.
How we approach it
We start read-only with the build tracker and network inventory, the order and provisioning platform, billing, the CRM and the marketing accounts. We follow one premises from build to first bill and one customer from order to renewal, and note every point where addresses, dates or statuses are matched by hand. Findings become a prioritised task list, each item with an owner and an acceptance check. If the client wants us to build, the same team delivers the data model, reports, workflows, campaigns and churn models, and leaves them in the client's own systems. Network design and engineering, spectrum, regulatory submissions to Ofcom or other regulators, security accreditation and legal advice on wholesale or wayleave agreements stay with qualified specialists.
How our experience is evidenced
No anonymised engagement in telecommunications is published. This page describes our approach and the capabilities we would apply: data integration, management reporting, marketing measurement and process automation, as we use them in other sectors.
How an engagement with THEFOCUS starts
A first conversation is about your situation. If there is a fit, we propose a scoped diagnostic with a fixed deliverable before any larger commitment.
Discuss this with us01
A working conversation
Forty-five minutes with the person who would lead the work. We ask about the decision, the systems behind it and the deadline.
02
A scoped diagnostic
Read-only access, a fixed timeframe and a written finding: what the records show, what it costs and what to change first.
03
A plan you can act on
Changes, owners, measures and exclusions in writing. The same team then builds and measures, or hands over cleanly.
- One accountable team
- The people who diagnose also build the systems and measure the result.
- Partners chosen per problem
- Independent specialists join for the parts that need them, under one contract.
- Records before dashboards
- Orders, ledgers and logs are reconciled before any recommendation depends on them.
Questions executives ask
Have you worked with telecoms operators?
We have no published engagement in telecommunications. A proposal would set out which parts of the scope we have delivered in other sectors, such as data integration, marketing measurement and reporting.
Do you design networks or plan build?
No. Network design, engineering and build planning stay with your engineers and contractors. We use build data to measure take-up, payback and the commercial result of each phase.
How would you measure the effect of a retention program?
We hold back a control group of comparable customers who receive no offer, then compare churn and revenue between the two groups over the same period. Without a control group, a fall in churn cannot be credited to the offer.
Discuss this with us
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