In any other decade, simultaneous CEO changes at two of the three biggest carriers would have sent the channel into a panic. Verizon swapped Hans Vestberg for former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman. T-Mobile promoted Srini Gopalan to succeed Mike Sievert. The channel’s collective response was a shrug.
That reaction tells you everything about where carrier relevance stands in 2026. The channel has diversified so far beyond wireline and wireless that a carrier CEO change is a LinkedIn headline, not a business disruption. Deloitte says telecoms must become platforms or die, and CEO swaps alone won’t get them there. It’s interesting, sure. But it doesn’t move the needle for most partners the way it would have five or ten years ago.
If you still have more than 60% of your book in carrier services, take note. The carrier loyalty trap is real, and T-Mobile’s promise of 50% more channel revenue doesn’t change the underlying math. The rest of the industry moved on. When 85% of telecom deals include IT services, pure carrier plays are a shrinking business. The question is whether you’re going to. Understanding what a TSD does in telecom and how the broader ecosystem works is table stakes for anyone diversifying beyond carrier services.