Monetizing the Connected Home Beyond Fiber

With high-speed broadband now standard, telcos are focusing on monetizing the connected home through reliability, tailored AI-driven offerings, and value-added services (VAS). As subscription growth slows, VAS like consumer cybersecurity is becoming key revenue drivers, with stronger investment expected by 2026 to meet rising demand for digital protection.

Operators will need to differentiate beyond speed and price to get ahead of competition

“Competing purely on speed is increasingly difficult, bringing innovation around quality of experience to the forefront of service provider strategy.”

Alzbeta Fellenbaum, Practice Leader Consumer Services

As gigabit and multi-gigabit offerings become widespread, the playing field for operators is levelling giving consumers the same speed options from various providers. Consumers, and especially those already subscribing to gigabit and multi-gigabit plans, will be increasingly hesitant to spend more on their broadband plan unless there is a clear improvement in quality of experience and/or customer service they receive. Therefore, to differentiate, operators will look to make reliability and quality of experience a key selling point for consumers highlighting features such as low latency or extra support (e.g. dedicated 24/7 help line or tech support for all devices in the household).

Telcos will also be offering plans that are relevant to the individual customers’ needs, utilizing AI tools to help analyze customer behavior, device usage, and data consumption to create tailored offers and identify

potential upsell opportunities.

This research is taken from:

Consumer 5G and Broadband Monetization Intelligence Service

Leading operators will shift attention to growth, and be successful

“Broadband service providers are missing growth opportunities while chasing churn. The future isn't about speed wars; it's about quality that commands premium pricing.”

Michael Philpott, Senior Research Director, Consumer Services & Markets

To grow their broadband businesses, telcos to date have relied heavily on subscription growth. However, markets in many parts of the world are now saturating, and as subscription rates grind to a halt, then so will revenue growth.

This trend is pushing telcos to increase the focus on churn. Where value-added-services (VAS) are used, it is only to drive stickiness, not growth. This means, however, that those VAS don’t get the required investment, either from a product or marketing point of view, and consequently largely fail. In 2026, therefore, leading operators will position VAS further up the broadband stack, enabling them to drive average revenue per user (ARPU) as well as stickiness. This ‘regrading’ of the VAS value means that they invest properly, enabling increased customer engagement. Selling VAS is still not easy, but leading operators are proving that proper investment brings commercial gains.

This research is taken from:

Consumer cybersecurity will lead the race for telco VAS investment

“While telcos continue to fix the fundamentals, consumer cybersecurity will lead the next wave of telco VAS Investment.”

Mariana Zamoszczyk, Principal Analyst, Digital Consumer Operator Strategy

Consumer cybersecurity has emerged as a strong potential ARPU growth strategy compared to other core and noncore services. To date though, even though according to Omdia’s 2025 Digital Consumer Insights survey data 70% of broadband customers state they would pay extra for a comprehensive cybersecurity solution, few telcos have successfully capitalized on the opportunity.

However, Omdia expects to see stronger executive endorsement for consumer cybersecurity in 2026, helping telcos to unlock this significant revenue potential while fulfilling their responsibility to safeguard their customers' digital lives. Consumer cybersecurity is therefore expected to lead the next wave of telco VAS investment, especially as new growth opportunities emerge beyond traditional antivirus solutions.