Acumen (the software product) was created by Armada (the American company). Acumen is a product specialized in cost and profitability management for the US banking sector, and represents the IP that CostPerform has acquired in this move. The deal represents not only a software acquisition but also marks the kickoff of a partnership between the teams at Armada and CostPerform. 

The Strategic Vision 

There’s no secret about it; CostPerform’s software is gaining market share and has been improving its capabilities each year. The sold-out Costing Conference in Amsterdam, and highly subscribed CostPerform user event in D.C are testaments to this. Much of this growth has also been organic and product-led, a testament to the quality of the product. The partnership with Armada now opens the door to streamlined implementation of CostPerform to banks in the US from CostPerform’s European headquarters, accelerating its mission of boosting cost transparency, insight, and profitability in the sector. 

Every Dollar Is a Decision 

Scott Wise, CEO of Armada, and Sander den Hartog, CEO of CostPerform, see eye-to-eye on the future of costing at the enterprise level. Wise’s decades of experience in the banking sector give him a wise outlook on financial firms in topics of profitability, costing, and transparency. Den Hartog’s vision, applied to sectors from government to telecoms and healthcare, is complemented by Wise’s sector-specific expertise. Den Hartog says, “Together we understand US banks’ challenges very well. It’s clear to us that banks that build cost transparency will win this next cycle in banking.”
 
Who will win this next cycle? 

Preparing for the next years is key. CostPerform, combining its costing knowledge with Armada’s insight, have created a banking cost optimization playbook detailing the strategy that will help regional banks to succeed in the years from 2026 to 2028. For those interested in the direction of AI investment in Europe, how expense ratios can be optimized in the United States, or the dual impacts of an M&A uptick, this playbook is a good read. It offers a roadmap for banks who want to count themselves among the winners of this period. 

The post CostPerform x Armada: Banking Profitability Experts first appeared on CostPerform.

Overview of Insights 2.0 interactive dashboard

“First responses to the new Insights are very enthusiastic, so we have high hopes of getting our customers to obtain more value from CostPerform.” — Bert-Jan de Gier, CTO of CostPerform

Spotlight: Insights 2.0

Insights has been completely renewed to make analysis and reporting in the CostPerform Portal faster, richer, and more intuitive. You’ll notice:

• A bigger visual toolbox. From classics like bar, line, and combo charts to gauges, financial visuals (OHLC, Candlestick), and maps (Choropleth, Scatter Map for geo-plotted data), you can create dashboards to fit the story you need to tell.
• Interactive, connected dashboards. Link visualizations so a selection in one chart can take you straight to a deeper view in another, ideal for guiding stakeholders from overview to detail with a single click.
• Smarter filters. Create page-level filters including date pickers with handy presets like this Month or Year to Date to keep dashboards focused and relevant for every audience.
• Built-in analytics. Apply time-series forecasts, linear regression, and outlier detection directly in Insights to surface trends and anomalies without exporting to third-party tools.

New chart types and statistical filtering options available with Insights 2.0

Coming from our previous release where we introduced major BI capabilities, Insights 2.0 is a big step up in flexibility and speed so you can build Power BI-style dashboards right where your cost and performance data lives.

Other improvements

Performance that keeps up

Modeling teams will notice crisper responsiveness in heavy scenarios. In particular, Loop calculation now runs faster, reducing turnaround time on iterative analyses and complex models.

UX & Quality-of-Life improvements

Small changes, big daily wins:

• Refreshed client UI for a cleaner feel.
• Pivot fields now have a sensible default width (long names no longer take over the screen).
• Search behaves better when multiple layers share the same name.
• Clearer ETL authoring: warnings if you reuse an element name, and a right-click paste action on the ETL canvas.
• No need to download a new Launcher after updating, one less maintenance step.

ETL updates developers will appreciate

To avoid collisions with column names, the ETL variable {date} has been replaced by {date:now}. This ensures models that include a “date” column in a Column Definition keep working as intended.

User management

Admins can now grant other User Spaces access to the Default User Space’s Secured Sandbox right from the client, making governance easier without scripting detours.

What else is new?

This release includes 13 new/improved functions and 39 bug fixes across the platform. For the complete list, check the readme.txt in your installation folder or on the download page. Additionally, we’ve also raised our baseline to Java 21 and updated core components (WildFly 36.0.1, Webswing 25.1.3) for a modern, secure foundation.

Get more from 2025.2:

• Build dashboards on the fly for leadership updates and operational monitoring.
• Visualize cost flows across layers to pinpoint drivers and optimize spend.
• Share securely within your organization, no exporting or context switching required.

Want to learn more?

If you’re on-prem, contact your admin about updating to 2025.2. SaaS environments roll out on our standard cadence, watch your portal notifications for the exact timing. Join our live product webinar – Introducing Insights on Dec 4 to help your team get the most from CostPerform 2025.2.

We can’t wait to see what you build with Insights 2.0!

The post New release: Introducing Insights 2025.2 first appeared on CostPerform.

Strategic Expansion in the US  

In Acumen, CostPerform inherits a widely used platform for modeling costs for American banks and asset managers. Furthermore, onboarding Acumen allows CostPerform to level up its offering for the US market, drawing CostPerform close together with Armada Solutions to leverage their stellar reputation, and strong customer base. “With this Acumen acquisition, we are not only bringing technology in-house, but also entering a partnership with a team with proven track record in the US financial sector”, said Sander den Hartog, CEO of CostPerform. “Together we can innovate faster and serve worldwide customers better.” 

One future-proof platform 

The combination of CostPerfom and Acumen brings together two complementary platforms for finance professionals. The result is a single, future-proof platform that meets the highest standards in security, scalability, and compliance. The acquisition represents the next step in CostPerform’s rapidly expanding position in North America, and solidifies its position within the financial sector. 

The Acumen to CostPerform Transition 

The step to integrate with CostPerform is taken by the Armada team with its customers as top priority. By gaining access to CostPerform’s software, already used by top financial firms in Europe and the US, Armada allows its existing customers to benefit from best-in-class cost and profitability software. “For us this is a great pairing”, said Armada CEO Scott Wise, “this integration with CostPerform will allow us to offer the best possible experience to our clients going forward and enable us to focus on innovations in the AI-driven future.” The integration of Acumen with CostPerform will take place in phases over the next two years. Customers receive one-on-on support from specialists at both organizations. 

About CostPerform 

CostPerform is a global software platform for cost modeling and profitability analysis. They help organizations gain transparency into their finances to aid decisions and meet regulatory requirements. The company has been in business for over 25 years and serves more than 100 clients globally, including banks, telecoms companies, and government institutions. CostPerform has offices in the Netherlands and the United States and complies with international security standards (ISO 27001). 

About Armada Armada LLC, operating as Armada Consulting and Armada Solutions is a Tulsa, Oklahoma based financial analytics and consulting firm founded in 2002 by Scott Wise. Armada is recognized as an innovator in cost and profitability analytics, providing consulting services, training, and managed services solutions that help finance teams move from reporting past performance to driving future profitability. Armada’s methodologies are documented in Wise’s book Actionable Profitability Analytics and have been implemented in multiple top-tier banks and Fortune 500 companies. Learn more at http://www.armadaconsulting.com. 

More Information

Darragh Jones, PR CostPerform
darragh@costperform.com

The post CostPerform Strengthens International Position with Transatlantic Acumen Acquisition  first appeared on CostPerform.

At Amsterdam in early October, we saw an example of a “tribe” of perfect size, thinking in harmony, engaging with each other, and learning from each other. The 1 to 1 connections, back and forth Q&A’s, and connections created will leave lasting memories in the minds of all who attended.

Sander den Hartog opened the event in style. Accompanied by a hard copy of Jimmy Nelson’s “Before They Pass Away”, he spoke to the value of cultivating this costing tribe. In a digitalizing world, the importance of gathering with our group of peers is paramount.

Scott Wise from Armada Solutions spoke from experience, how an organization benefits from going granular. Every dollar is a decision, and Scott highlighted the importance of those cost management decisions that lead to a healthier and more profitable business.

Stephanie and Aswin illustrated Scott’s philosophy, going granular on organizational costs at PGGM, one of the largest pension providers in the Netherlands. They included an insightful walkthrough of how they built their cost models, and allocate costs from layer to layer.

On Day 2, Danone Al-Safi CFO Ahmed Dawoud demonstrated how experience wins out. His talk showcased operational knowledge from a practical career in FMCG. “Get out of the office”, Dawoud urged us, “Get into the factory. You won’t believe how many CFO’s are not familiar with the nuts and bolts of their business.”

Johan from our partner Purple Bridge hosted an eagerly anticipated session on the advances of AI in Costing. LLM’s like ChatGPT and Gemini are transforming industries. Johan spoke of the evolving roles of AI, from assistant to advisor to creator. We wait to feel the impact of AI in Costing.

Russell Vannoy outlined how Central Garden & Pet builds cost models at scale to help distribute and deliver goods to 10,000 stores in the United States. Russel double-clicks on culture as a key point: An organization needs costing and profitability alignment across all functions, from top to bottom.

Tanel turned our thoughts towards healthcare. With experience managing a nationwide healthcare budget in Estonia, his insights were sharp and his data was superb. Can you allocate your business costs as accurately as Tanel?

As the event moved to a close, Mahmoud from OnPoint Advisory gave us a history lesson. From Frederick Taylor in the 1800s upto Kaplan, who really helped costing come into its own as a niche in the 1990s. It’s great to see where we came from.

With investment in IT and AI surging, Costing Conference 2025 reminds us that in-person events remain critical. Connecting with like-minded peers in a community, comparing experiences, and talking solutions. Costing Conference 2025 was a real hit, and a great example of connection, networking, and idea sharing done right.

The post Costing Conference 2025: Connecting the Global Costing Tribe first appeared on CostPerform.

The post 8 Steps to Build a Bank Profitability Model That Works first appeared on CostPerform.

BALTIMORE and RESTON, Va. – July 31, 2025 – CostPerform, a leading provider of enterprise cost and performance management software, and Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®, today announced a partnership. Under the agreement, Carahsoft will serve as CostPerform’s Master Government Aggregator®, making the company’s comprehensive suite of cost allocation and cost management tools available to the Public Sector through Carahsoft’s reseller partners and GSA Schedule, NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V, Information Technology Enterprise Solutions – Software 2 (ITES-SW2), National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) ValuePoint, OMNIA Partners, E&I Cooperative Services Contract and The Quilt contracts.

The new partnership addresses the increasing demands for financial transparency and operational efficiency in Government operations. Through Carahsoft’s reseller partners and contract vehicles, agencies can now access CostPerform’s advanced cost and performance management solutions specifically designed for Government agencies, enabling data-driven decision-making and improved resource optimization.

“Government agencies face the challenge of accurately managing complex costs and sticking to Federal requirements,” said Sander den Hartog, CEO of CostPerform. “Our partnership with Carahsoft will help us provide the tools needed to deliver cost transparency, streamline regulatory reporting and improve resource allocation across the Public Sector.”

CostPerform’s platform enables Government organizations to:

• Implement advanced cost allocation methodologies across departments and programs to calculate their true cost to serve.
• Create detailed insights into service delivery costs and operational effectiveness.
• Streamline financial reporting and enhance accountability measures, while adhering to stringent regulatory requirements.
• Optimize resource allocation through data-driven analysis.

As a GSA-approved supplier, CostPerform’s solution has already demonstrated significant impact across major Federal institutions and is certified and accredited by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Library of Congress and U.S. Office of Personnel Management. These agencies use CostPerform’s capabilities to optimize their financial operations and financial transparency.

“Through this partnership, we’re expanding access to essential financial management tools that help Government agencies optimize their operations,” said Laura Howton, Program Executive for Analytics and Data Management Solutions at Carahsoft. “CostPerform’s platform provides a powerful solution for agencies seeking to modernize their financial management capabilities. We look forward to working with CostPerform and our reseller partners to meet the growing demand for accountability and efficiency in the Public Sector.”

CostPerform’s solutions are available through Carahsoft’s GSA Schedule No. 47QSWA18D008F,SEWP V contracts NNG15SC03B and NNG15SC27B, ITES-SW2 Contract W52P1J-20-D-0042, NASPO ValuePoint Master Agreement #AR2472, OMNIA Partners Contract #R240303, E&I Contract #EI00063~2021MA and The Quilt Master Service Agreement Number MSA05012019-F. Explore CostPerform’s contract vehicles here. For more information, contact the Carahsoft Team at (571) 590-6870 or CostPerform@carahsoft.com; or view the on-demand webinar “Cost Allocations for State and Federal Agencies” to learn about best practices in cost allocation.

About CostPerform

CostPerform delivers enterprise-grade cost management software that transforms how organizations understand and optimize the cost of their operations. Trusted by more than 200 organizations worldwide, CostPerform’s solutions enable data-driven decision-making and cost transparency across public and private sectors. Learn more at http://www.costperform.com.

Media Contact:
Darragh Jones 
Growth Marketer
CostPerform 
darragh@costperform.com

About Carahsoft  
Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Artificial Intelligence, Customer Experience and Engagement, Open Source and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contract vehicles. Visit us at http://www.carahsoft.com.  

Contact 
Mary Lange 
(703) 230-7434 
PR@carahsoft.com 

View source version on GlobeNewswire

The post CostPerform and Carahsoft Partner to Provide Advanced Cost Management Software for U.S. Government Agencies first appeared on CostPerform.

“Telecom is no longer a slow-moving industry. It’s become geopolitical, globally exposed, and under pressure from all sides – financial, regulatory, and infrastructural.” — Carl Halewood, Telecom Finance Expert

Synchronizing Internal and External Reporting

Traditional costing models, often maintained in spreadsheets or outdated legacy tools, are poorly equipped to meet modern regulatory standards. Regulators now require operators to justify pricing through cost-based methodologies, such as LRIC (Long Run Incremental Cost), and often demand separate reporting on network versus retail cost structures. This introduces both a compliance burden and a strategic opportunity.

Aligning internal cost views with regulatory frameworks ensures consistency across pricing, investment decisions, and reporting. It also provides defensibility when regulators raise questions about margin squeezes or market dominance claims. In Belgium, for example, the telecom regulator BIPT recently conducted margin squeeze tests at the product level, requiring operators to separate network and retail costing and justify margins using LRIC-based methodologies. Similar scrutiny is emerging across Europe, as national regulators update their methods and expect operators to prove cost-based pricing integrity. The expectation is clear: cost transparency must be granular, auditable, and regulator-ready.

Belgium’s Regulator Raises the Bar

In 2024, Belgium’s telecom regulator (BIPT) conducted margin squeeze tests on Proximus and other SMP operators, including their fiber and mobile service portfolios. Instead of just looking at overall pricing levels, BIPT demanded product-level margin validation, separating out network vs. retail costs and applying LRIC-based logic.

The message was clear: compliance now requires granularity. Operators that lacked structured, transparent cost models struggled to respond. No penalties were issued, but the expectation was set.

For finance professionals, it’s a signal: costing models must now withstand both commercial scrutiny and regulatory interrogation.

Margin Squeeze Tests Are Ongoing, Not One-Off Events

Margin squeeze tests are not typically a one-off event. They are often revisited on a regular basis, typically every six months or annually, as regulators recognize the ongoing risk of market power abuse through pricing strategies. Even if a telecom operator passes the test in one period, there is always the potential for price changes in the next.

This necessitates a continuous, robust system for monitoring and reporting—one that goes beyond ad-hoc, Excel-based solutions. A more structured, long-term approach is required, warranting investment in a dedicated tool.

Organizations that adopt structured, auditable systems gain more than just the ability to respond quickly during audits. They establish a solid foundation for long-term regulatory alignment. This approach not only reduces friction in reporting but also enhances transparency, enabling telecom companies to foster greater internal confidence in their financial data and compliance efforts.

Reducing Audit Pain and Compliance Risk

Many operators still rely on manual Excel models or an outdated, incompatible system for regulatory submissions. While flexible, these models are inherently opaque, difficult to audit, and highly error-prone. This exposes organizations to compliance risk, especially as regulatory demands grow in complexity.

By shifting to purpose-built solutions, operators can:

• Generate regulator-ready reports on demand
• Maintain clear audit trails for all assumptions and inputs
• Reduce manual workload and eliminate model inconsistencies

Regulatory alignment is not just about satisfying the authorities. It’s about ensuring that internal decision-making and external accountability are synchronized. Operators who embed compliance into their architecture gain both strategic clarity and regulatory confidence.

“What telecom operators need now is agility. The ability to iterate on models, maintain full transparency, and adapt to regulatory or commercial shifts without waiting weeks to run a new scenario. That’s what modern finance teams expect.” — Sander den Hartog, CEO, CostPerform

Setting the Standard, Not Just Following It

In many markets, regulatory bodies are still evolving their expectations around pricing transparency, cost allocation, and AI- or platform-driven bandwidth usage. This creates uncertainty but also an opportunity.

Operators with structured, auditable models are better positioned not just to comply, but to lead. By proactively sharing clear logic and demonstrating internal consistency, they can influence how standards are set. Regulators welcome clarity, and operators who provide it early often help shape the frameworks that others must later adopt.

Cost transparency isn’t just about defensiveness. It’s a way to lead the conversation.

“What these telcos need now is agility. Iterative modeling, full transparency, and flexibility to respond to regulatory and commercial shifts without waiting weeks to run a new model. That’s what modern telecom finance requires.” — Sander den Hartog, CEO, CostPerform

Telecom Regulatory Compliance Starts with Transparency

Telecom regulatory compliance is accelerating in both complexity and frequency. To stay ahead, operators need more than spreadsheets, they need structured transparency and the agility to respond quickly.

By aligning internal reporting with external expectations, companies not only reduce audit pain but build strategic resilience in an evolving regulatory world.

Want to learn more?

See how BT navigated complex regulatory requirements using CostPerform, read the BT and CostPerform case study to learn best practices and avoid common pitfalls.

The post Telecom Regulatory Compliance: How to Prepare first appeared on CostPerform.

These traditional models struggle to keep pace with today’s data-driven, bundled, and capital-intensive environment. The result? Inaccurate profitability insights, inefficient pricing decisions, and compliance risk.

This blog post explores the growing chaos in telecom costing, highlighting the structural blind spots that prevent effective financial planning and what CFOs must do to modernize.

Where Traditional Telecom Cost Models Break Down

The telecom sector has undergone a profound transformation over the past decade. Once dominated by voice services and predictable pricing models, telecom now operates in a digital-first ecosystem delivering an increasing mix of bundled services, media, and data-intensive offerings.

This rapid shift has made traditional costing models, designed for static voice services, obsolete. Finance teams across the industry are often left relying on outdated models that fail to account for the complexity of modern telecom operations.

Many finance teams still focus on reporting actuals or budgeting for the next year but lack proactive, forward-looking scenario analysis. Traditional models, based on static assumptions, simplistic averages, or revenue-weighted allocations, do not accurately reflect the true cost structure of modern telecom services.

The result: unclear product profitability, poor ROI visibility on infrastructure investments, and difficulty complying with evolving regulatory frameworks.

The Shift from Voice to Data and Beyond

One of the most striking disruptions in telecom is the shift in network demand. Data traffic has exploded, driven by the widespread adoption of 4K video streaming, remote work, connected homes, and AI workloads.

Customers expect unlimited data, flat-rate pricing, and seamless coverage. Meanwhile, the infrastructure costs to deliver these experiences, especially in a 5G and soon 6G environment, are rising sharply.

For CFOs, the question becomes: How do you align cost with services that scale unpredictably?

What Telcos Get Wrong About Costing

Many telecom companies still use average unit cost models to track expenses. While seemingly simple, these models often mask unprofitable segments and create a false sense of financial health.

By averaging costs across bundled or shared services, companies risk misallocating resources and making flawed investment decisions.

“Compliance with pricing regulations adds another layer of complexity. While telecom firms may know the permitted price structure in advance, they often only determine whether they’re within regulatory bounds after actual usage volumes are known.” — Carl Halewood, Telecom Finance Expert

Telcos are also under pressure to cut both Opex and Capex while keeping service levels high. Striking that balance demands smarter cost allocation and cross-departmental collaboration.

“Pricing changes faster than regulation. Consumers want unlimited data, but there are finance teams still modeling by the minute.” — Sander den Hartog, CEO, CostPerform

Hidden Blind Spots in Telecom Costing

Without modern cost models, telcos face numerous blind spots:

Bundled Products Obscure Margins

Mobile + broadband + TV bundles are popular—but they hide the real profitability of each service.

Flat-Rate Pricing Masks Usage Patterns

Charging every customer the same fee ignores cost-to-serve differences and leaves high-usage segments underpriced.

Shared Infrastructure Clouds Wholesale Cost Allocation

As voice networks evolve into data platforms, understanding where wholesale margins originate becomes harder.

Misaligned Allocation Rules Lead to Bad Decisions

Evenly allocating costs across services ignores usage realities and undermines financial accuracy.

These are not just accounting errors – they directly impact product pricing, Capex decisions, and regulatory credibility.

Why Telecom CFOs Must Lead the Shift

Forward-thinking CFOs are now adopting modern telecom cost models that:

• Enable scenario planning and future-state forecasting
• Support compliance with changing price regulations
• Reveal true product and customer profitability

“If you don’t know your real product profitability, you can’t optimize your network or defend your pricing.” — Sander den Hartog, CEO, CostPerform

Advanced tools like activity-based costing and time-driven costing are critical. Equally important is shifting from Excel to enterprise-grade telecom cost allocation software.

A New Era for Telecom Costing

Telecom CFOs can no longer afford to rely on outdated models that don’t reflect the realities of today’s bundled, data-heavy services. With increasing regulatory scrutiny, rising infrastructure costs, and shifting user behavior, now is the time to modernize.

By embracing smarter telecom cost optimization tools and practices, CFOs can uncover hidden inefficiencies, inform strategic decisions, and secure long-term profitability.

Want to learn more?

For a more in-depth look at why old cost-management models don’t work and how to make robus models, you can read the telecom cost management whitepaper or contact us.

The post Why Legacy Telecom Cost Models No Longer Work first appeared on CostPerform.

Operators must accurately allocate direct and shared costs such as labor, transmission, infrastructure, licensing across services to uncover true cost-to-serve. Moreover, effective models link these costs directly to outcomes, enabling defensible and transparent reporting as well as margin analysis. As a result, this granularity helps operators avoid regulatory penalties while also uncovering optimization levers hidden within complex portfolios.

In such a dynamic industry, a strong profitability model is essential. It clarifies revenue streams, cost drivers, and overall financial performance. Below is an eight-step framework for a strategic telecom cost model:

Step 1: Define Objectives

Begin with a clear understanding of what you want the model to deliver. Are you targeting profitability insights per subscriber, product (e.g., mobile, broadband, enterprise services), network segment, region, or partner? Do you want to measure profitability on a monthly or real-time basis, especially for prepaid services? 

Every cost model must be driven by clearly defined outcomes. Common objectives include tracking service-level profitability across segments, modeling cost-to-serve by customer tier, complying with frameworks like LRIC, and benchmarking regional cost variances. Defining these goals ensures alignment between modeling design and business needs.

Step 2: Outline the Telecom Cost Modeling Framework

Start by mapping how revenue streams (e.g., ARPU, roaming fees, interconnection charges) and cost drivers (e.g., infrastructure, customer service, spectrum fees) interact. Build a cause-effect logic that links service consumption and infrastructure usage to financial outcomes. Drawing this out on paper or a whiteboard before transitioning to software helps refine assumptions early.

The above diagram shows that ABC is most effective when businesses identify the activities that are driving costs at a granular level, rather than attempt to apportion lump sum costs for entire departments.

Step 3: Map Data Drivers

Telecom environments involve large and diverse datasets: call detail records (CDRs), subscriber management systems, ERP (particularly general ledger and fixed asset registers), OSS/BSS data, billing records, and CRM databases. Identify which data is needed (e.g., usage by product, customer service interactions, tower-level cost data), data frequency and granularity (hourly, daily, monthly), and how to cleanse and normalize data for modeling use.

Step 4: Define Cost Links

Use a dedicated profitability modeling tool that handles high data volumes, complex cost allocations, and customizable rules (e.g., CostPerform, or a telecom-focused BI suite). Avoid general-purpose spreadsheets like Excel. They introduce scalability, transparency, and auditability issues, especially for telecom-scale operations.

Step 5: Validate Outcomes

After your first iteration, assess whether the model outputs align with operational and financial realities. For example, do results make sense at the tower, plan, or customer segment level? Are margins unusually high or low in specific products? Does the model reflect real network usage patterns? Iterate based on stakeholder feedback, operational benchmarks, and known financials.

Step 6: Build Reports

Turn model outputs into actionable dashboards and reports for different stakeholders. Executives need high-level profitability by product line and geography, network planners need cost-to-serve insights by infrastructure node, and marketing may want profitability by campaign or plan bundle. Use visualizations that highlight margins, trends, and anomalies clearly.

Step 7: Automate the Process

Given the volume and velocity of telecom data, automate. Data ingestion from OSS/BSS. Monthly or weekly model runs. Report generation and distribution. Automation ensures timeliness, reduces manual errors, and enhances decision-making agility.

“CostPerform has transformed our regulatory reporting, allowing us to deliver precise network component profitability analysis. What once took months is now streamlined, providing clear, actionable insights to manage costs more effectively.” – Martin Pallot, Finance Business Partner at JT Group.

Step 8: Document Everything

Keep a detailed record of model assumptions and logic, data sources and transformation processes, validation steps and known limitations, and change history and version control. This documentation is essential for audits, team changes, and model evolution.

Telecom providers who have followed this thoughtful, step-by-step approach have uncovered deep insights into their revenue streams, cost drivers, and profit levers. It transforms profitability modeling into a powerful tool for decision-making. While this framework isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, it offers a solid foundation to start, learn, and adapt. Whether you’re building a model from scratch or refining an existing one, this clarity has led to smarter pricing, optimized resource allocation, and stronger competitive positioning in a rapidly evolving market.

Want to learn more?

Read on to get an overview on why CostPerform is the professional’s choice and see how it streamlines each of your 8 strategic modeling steps, or get directly in touch with us.

The post How to Build a Strategic Telecom Cost Model: 8-Step Guide first appeared on CostPerform.

New technologies can create new value, but that may always come at a cost to incumbents. Telecom operators across Europe and the United States continue to face new pressure from new technologies and transmission methods. In the 2000’s, we saw broadcast media continue its convergence with the telecom infrastructure.

In 2025, Operators face the challenge of continued incursions on their infrastructure by “free-riding” media like Meta, Netflix, and ChatGPT, who provide zero capital investment yet create endless value from their services. Other trends such as app-generated media in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia show a continuously evolving relationship between telco’s and media. While the threat of broadcast media posed similar threats decades ago, merging with hi-tech companies is increasingly difficult for legacy operators.

Erosion of Platforms and Infrastructure

Landlines and fax machines, two technologies which a few decades ago were likely to be found in every home or office, are now close to being extinct. A few notable exceptions aside, like Japan’s now infamous low-tech bureaucracy, fax, and landline have seen their usage fall to near zero. Could fiber broadband face the same issues sooner than expected? While unlikely, there are some early fears that fiber usage may face the same fate sooner than expected. See our 4 predictions for how 5G, 6G, and satellite might reshape fixed line demand.

Outside the home, applications like autonomous vehicles depend on near-instantaneous communication with edge servers and other vehicles, often via 5G radio access networks, to make split-second decisions. If consumers are willing to trust 5G reliability to drive them home, they’ll be confident enough to use it to make work video calls.

Or, as more devices in both domestic and industrial environments become connected, will the need for ultra-reliable, low-latency connectivity be critical, not just desirable. In the home, this includes smart care support devices such as fall detectors, remote health monitors, and emergency response systems for elderly or vulnerable individuals, which rely on real-time data transmission to function safely.

Even seemingly mundane household appliances, like smart ovens, fridges, or heating systems, are increasingly connected to cloud platforms for remote control, predictive maintenance, and energy optimization. As these devices shift from convenience-based to mission-critical roles, consistent and low-latency connectivity becomes non-negotiable. Reliability may become more critical than pricing, but will that be enough to sustain take up of fixed line networks?

Difficulties Ahead in Fiber?

Competition from the likes of Starlink, mobile internet, and slow uptake remain pressing concerns for fiber globally. Fiber rollout across Europe is progressing swiftly, but disappointing household uptake is identified as one of the most important challenges in the years to come. Belgium, Czechia, and Greece stand out as laggards, but fibre penetration rates in the EU27 and UK are expected to pass 90% in 2028.

But while the rollout progresses, the take-up on new fibre connections is a struggle. Some existing connections churn, while new take-up is slow. Some customers are happy with existing technologies like xDSL and coax, while the threats of cheap and fast 5G, 6G on the horizon, and investments in satellite technology by American giants Amazon and Starlink looms around the corner.

Full-Fibre investment business cases are predicated on being able to upsell customers to higher speed products over the long term. Many companies have incentivised customers, either through rental-free periods or discounting, to encourage switches to new speeds in the hope that they don’t go back. It’s essential for organizations to use scenario analysis tools to make the right decisions (which customers, what discount value and length) to ensure network investment provides long run returns on these complex matters.

To be re-designed: (context: European Fiber uptake)

Where to Focus Fiber and 5G roll out?

Telcos in the middle of major infrastructure roll out (full-fibre, 5G, or soon to come 6G) face choices between when to invest in specific geographical regions, or whether to invest in regions at all. Urban locations typically provide the lowest unit costs for telco network operators due to the economies of scale from covering many more end users over a small location (e.g. in estates of large multi-dwelling units like tower blocks) and higher take up.

Rural locations often require negotiations with government in order to obtain funding incentives in order to connect remote and expensive citizens. Competition from alternative network providers can be common in both, due to the attractiveness of urban returns or the ability for a smaller provider to specialise in smaller rural areas; Starlink and similar satellite providers offer a compelling option for remote areas, with no increase in infrastructure costs.

Telcos need to be able to run forward-looking scenarios on market share and pricing, reflecting an awareness that any delay building in a geographical market could lose them the first mover advantage. However, acknowledging that 100% coverage may not maximise returns for shareholders. 

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Costing Chaos: EBITDA and Revenue Mismatch

With these challenges and uncertainties, both ongoing and on the horizon, the landscape for a financial decision maker at a major global Telco has become increasingly difficult to predict. Will a reliable and fast fiber network maintain its value and appeal to customers well into the next decade? Will satellite and mobile towers continue their uptick? The question of where to position your investments becomes harder to pinpoint.

Despite the challenges, no material declines in capital expenditure is forecast. In Europe, inflation and wage growth has largely steadied off in 2025, no doubt contributing to the expectation of healthy EBITDA growth for European Telcos, as wage bills decrease, while AI-bolstered workers increase productivity. But the EBITDA growth comes amidst limited revenue growth, as new opportunities for value generation on the revenue side decrease

The Challenges Ahead

Telcos need to protect their big network investments while also teaming up with the services that use their pipes. By running simple “what-if” models, they can decide where to build fiber or 5G first and which offers lift returns fastest. At the same time, fair cost-sharing deals with Meta, Netflix or other OTTs can help cover upkeep without stifling innovation. In short, success means smart planning, balanced budgets, and open partnerships, so operators remain crucial in a world where value and infrastructure must share the load.

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The post The New Economic Reality of Telecoms first appeared on CostPerform.