Beyond EBITDA: The New Metrics Board Members Should Be Tracking

The Limitations of Legacy Metrics

For decades, EBITDA has been the cornerstone metric for telecoms, infrastructure, and utility boards. It’s simple, clean, and comparable. But in 2025, it is no longer sufficient. As telecoms become software-centric, infrastructure becomes geopolitically sensitive, and AI reshapes cost structures, traditional financial metrics are no longer enough to guide strategic oversight.

Boards that continue to rely solely on EBITDA risk flying blind through the most complex decade of transformation their sectors have faced. This article explores why boards need to adopt a broader performance lens—and which new metrics matter most.

1. EBITDA: What It Shows—and What It Hides

EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) has been popular for a reason:

- It strips away capital structure noise

- It provides comparability across jurisdictions

- It aligns well with debt covenants

But it also hides:

- Infrastructure ageing and resilience risk

- Cyber exposure and digital attack surface- Reliance on third-party platforms (cloud, analytics)

- Revenue dependency on non-sovereign data flows

- Innovation lag vs. regional competitors

A business can have excellent EBITDA—and still be strategically fragile.

2. What Boards Actually Need to Track in 2025

To lead strategically, boards need metrics that reflect digital readiness, resilience, sovereignty, and long-term value creation.

A. Infrastructure Utilisation Rate (IUR)Tracks usage of fibre, towers, or data centre capacity against installed base. Helps identify stranded assets and scaling risks.

B. Digital Ecosystem Dependency IndexQuantifies reliance on external platforms (e.g., AWS, Google, Huawei) for critical services. High dependency implies risk.

C. GNSS Resilience ScoreMeasures ability of telecom networks to function without satellite-based timing. Critical for conflict zones and regulatory compliance.

D. PQC Readiness IndexAssesses preparedness for post-quantum cryptography transition. Captures risk to encrypted customer data.

E. API Revenue ShareTracks percentage of revenue generated via B2B2X API platforms. Indicates whether a telco is evolving toward platform status.

F. Regulator Relationship Score (Qualitative)Reflects stakeholder trust, response times, policy alignment. Often more predictive of long-term license retention than ARPU.

3. Strategic Risk That EBITDA Ignores

Too many boards think high EBITDA equals low risk. That’s a dangerous fallacy. EBITDA does not:

- Capture exposure to AI-driven disintermediation

- Reflect talent loss in cybersecurity or data governance teams

- Anticipate margin erosion from smart pricing competitors

- Include technical debt built into legacy OSS/BSS platforms

And crucially, it doesn’t reflect:

- Time-to-recover (TTR) in cyberattacks- Service level compliance across government contracts

- Environmental risk embedded in diesel-dependent tower networks

These are strategic risks - not just operational ones. And they are absent from EBITDA.

4. The KPI–Strategy Loop

Boards manage what they measure. So what happens when the wrong things are measured?

Strategy degrades into:

- Cost-cutting over innovation

- Defensive growth rather than platform building

- Avoidance of strategic technology investments

This loop becomes self-reinforcing. Boards miss opportunities because their dashboards only show short-term cash performance. Meanwhile, competitors with lower EBITDA but higher innovation velocity begin to dominate future layers of value.

To break the loop, boards must evolve KPIs in line with value creation logic - not legacy financial frameworks.

5. Case Study: A Board-Level Metrics Transformation

A Central European wholesale telco was showing 28% EBITDA margins but facing declining market relevance. Investor confidence was waning, despite strong quarterly numbers.

BCL was invited to review board-level KPIs and strategic alignment. Within two quarters, the following changes were implemented:

- Introduced a Sovereignty Exposure Matrix, mapping all physical and digital assets by jurisdiction and legal control.

- Added a 5-point API monetisation metric to track ecosystem leverage.

- Created a Board Technology Pulse to score vendor lock-in risk and standards alignment quarterly.

Result: the board shifted focus from defensive profit protection to long-term strategic control - and secured an anchor investor based on resilience, not just margin.

6. How to Introduce New Metrics Without Losing Focus

New KPIs should not overwhelm board discussions. Instead:

- Add no more than 3–5 new indicators, tied to existing strategic goals.

- Use dashboards, not spreadsheets - visual clarity matters.

- Include non-financial context in quarterly packs (e.g., regulatory exposure notes).

- Review each new KPI’s predictive power after 2–3 quarters—refine accordingly.

Importantly, assign board-level ownership. Each director should be responsible for understanding at least one emerging metric in depth.

Conclusion: Metrics Shape Mindsets

The metrics a board tracks are not neutral—they shape what the board believes matters. When KPIs expand beyond EBITDA, boards start asking better questions. Questions like:

- What’s our resilience-to-profit ratio?

- How much control do we really have over our infrastructure?

- Are we building optionality into our digital future?

Bridge Connect helps boards develop modern KPI frameworks that support better strategic oversight, investment alignment, and future value creation. Because in 2025, governance isn’t just about compliance - it’s about insight.

Still relying on EBITDA alone? It’s time to upgrade your oversight tools.

Contact Bridge Connect Ltd for a Strategic KPI Review and Modern Metrics Workshop tailored to your board’s needs.