Jury out whether telcos are capable of the big change

Seeking out new revenues, big phone firms at the Mobile World Congress are trying to loosen Google, Amazon and Facebook’s grip, write Eric Auchard and Sophie Sassard.

Seeking to escape a cycle of falling prices and tight regulation, big telecom operators from Vimpelcom to Telefonica are set to reinvent themselves as internet players to escape the industry’s straight-jacket of low growth.

This week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona will feature phone companies in various stages of acceptance that the industry’s predictable, decades-old business model based on selling data packages by the millions is running out of steam.