In a career spanning more than three decades, Rosalind Singleton has held senior positions across the telecoms landscape, from helping build networks from scratch in the Middle East to becoming Managing Director of UK Broadband, and later advising on national infrastructure strategy and 5G deployment in the UK. Her leadership journey is one of resilience, adaptability and vision.

Rosalind’s rise to the C-suite, despite having no formal engineering degree, speaks to her deep understanding of organisational culture and her aptitude for bringing together people, systems, and strategies to deliver transformative results. Through her varied experiences - as COO, board chair, angel investor and strategic advisor - Singleton has built an unusually holistic perspective on what’s coming next for the telecoms sector.

In this article, we explore her reflections on the biggest industry challenges, the growing influence of AI, structural inefficiencies in large organisations, and the still-persistent gender gap in telecoms leadership. These are the key themes shaping the future, according to one of the industry’s most thoughtful voices.

Business Challenges in Telecoms

Rosalind notes the Vodafone-Three merger will be a true test of leadership focus, especially as integration efforts risk distracting from customer service. She warns that without careful leadership, the complexity of integrating systems, teams and strategies can result in loss of both customers and employees. According to her, businesses must learn to manage their "focus budget" - recognising that time and energy are finite resources. Leaders must make conscious decisions about where they direct their attention, as this ultimately shapes how teams behave and where results are delivered.

Smaller alternative networks (alt nets) face continued funding pressures, which is pushing many toward consolidation. Singleton draws comparisons to the cable shakeouts of the early 2000s, though she points out that today’s environment is driven more by equity structures and strategic investment than by pure market collapse. Government incentives and policy stability have played a significant role in fostering this newer breed of competitive networks, although questions about sustainability remain.

AI's Dual Role in Telecoms

Singleton explores two dimensions of AI in the telecoms landscape. First, there's the operational challenge: networks must now accommodate traffic patterns not just generated by people, but increasingly by machines. AI-driven agents interacting on networks introduce novel behaviour that legacy systems may not recognise or interpret correctly. This could have implications for everything from bandwidth allocation to cybersecurity.

The second dimension is AI as a tool. Singleton observes that AI has tremendous potential to streamline operations, from predictive maintenance to intelligent customer service and network optimisation. However, she urges caution, particularly around AI's role in recruitment, noting the risk of bias and the importance of transparency. She emphasises that without clear organisational boundaries and ethical frameworks, AI implementation could backfire, either through inefficiency or inequity.

One initiative Singleton champions is JOINER, a national-scale experimental telecoms network that allows testing across varied environments. She sees this as an essential proving ground for ensuring AI systems within networks can talk to each other effectively, preventing miscommunication and performance bottlenecks.

What Large Organisations Can Learn from Startups

Singleton is critical of the sluggishness she often sees in large organisations. She describes the phenomenon of "little boxes of No” - bureaucratic hurdles where committees and processes exist largely to delay or block initiatives without offering clear guidance. In these environments, no single group has accountability or the power to say yes, which leads to organisational inertia.

In contrast, startups tend to empower decision-making at the edge, trusting capable individuals to move quickly within set parameters. Singleton advocates adopting a similar approach in larger organisations, citing NASA’s philosophy of pushing authority to the lowest competent level. With the right guardrails in place, this model enhances agility and fosters a culture of trust and accountability, two things often missing from legacy corporate structures.

Inclusion in Tech: Still a Long Road

Although Singleton has worked with many supportive colleagues over the years, she’s frank about the ongoing gender imbalance in telecoms, especially in engineering and field-based roles. She notes that while many companies display tokenistic gestures, such as posting photos of their few female engineers, real inclusion is often lacking in the day-to-day structures and policies.

Barriers range from early education biases to practical challenges like access to adequate facilities on job sites. Singleton emphasises that these obstacles compound at mid-career levels, where many women leave the industry due to limited flexibility and the so-called maternity penalty. This, in turn, shrinks the pipeline of talent ready to move into senior leadership roles.

She urges companies to take a long-term view on talent development - one that includes active mentoring, maternity re-onboarding, and more inclusive policies. Token representation at board level is not enough; companies must create room at every level, particularly in operational and technical roles.

Government Policy and the Role of Openreach

The UK telecoms landscape has shifted dramatically with the introduction of consistent government policy aimed at encouraging private investment. Singleton believes this has accelerated the growth of alternative providers and helped foster healthy competition. However, challenges persist.

Openreach’s market position remains powerful, and despite regulation, they continue to enjoy advantages that many new players struggle to counter. Singleton highlights how most consumers remain unaware of alternative options because their current providers simply upgrade them during contract renewals. As a result, new entrants often find it difficult to attract customers despite offering better service or pricing.

She also points to the poor customer service reputation within the industry: issues like unclear billing, long wait times, and inconsistent technical support are long-standing and contribute to widespread dissatisfaction. Singleton argues that improving the customer experience could be one of the most effective tools for new networks to compete in a crowded market.

Rosalind Singleton’s reflections serve as a powerful reminder: genuine leadership, whether in innovation or inclusion, depends not just on vision but on action, accountability, and the ability to listen well. As telecoms faces unprecedented technological and structural shifts, voices like hers offer clarity, candour and a much-needed call to rethink the old ways of working.

If you’d like to work with someone like Rosalind to resolve a transformational challenge in your organisation, you can find out more about her and our other DelTra Associates over on our Business Advisory page.