LIVE FROM MOBILE 360 EURASIA, MOSCOW: Veon and Digicel Group board member Kaan Terzioglu (pictured) warned operators must create a suite of new applications to increase their relevance to customers, as many only provide the most primitive available.

Terzioglu, who quit as CEO of Turkcell in March, said the industry had already missed out on “billions and trillions” of dollars as a result of third-party companies building customer-centric services delivered over mobile networks, while operators were focused elsewhere.

“Over the last two decades our industry has been fascinated by technologies, one generation after another we’ve tried to deploy the technology, but somehow we missed the facts about the customer,” he added.

By adopting digital services, as Terzioglu endorsed with his former employer, he emphasised the industry has great growth potential.

“Every time a new generation of technology comes the cards are redistributed and this time the redistribution will bring us even more opportunities to be relevant to the customer. If we focus on the customer. Let’s make sure we don’t fall into the trap of only talking about the technology, spectrum and the capex,” he added.

“We need to be honest with ourselves,” he said, noting smartphone users typically have chosen to install “tens of applications”.

“While I’m privileged to be part of the mobile industry, I am also embarrassed by the fact there are three applications on that phone which are primitive: the dialler; the contacts; and the SMS, and those are the applications our industry has contributed to that incredible device in our pockets. That has to change.”