Veridian Consulting

Telecoms Regulation & Policy Advisory

Know the rules. Shape the market.

Independent telecoms advisory for Liberia and West Africa, led by a former Director of Strategy at the Liberia Telecommunications Authority. We help operators, investors, regulators and development partners make decisions that hold up.

Discuss your requirements See our services

Who we advise

Our clients work across the telecoms and digital economy. Each comes to us with a different question, and we shape every engagement around it.

  • Mobile and fixed operators

    Licensing, compliance, pricing, and network expansion strategy.

  • Investors and lenders

    Market sizing, risk assessment, and investment appraisal before you commit capital.

  • Infrastructure providers

    Towers, fiber, and data centers: wholesale market mapping and sharing models.

  • Technology firms

    A clear route to authorization, partners, and launch in a new market.

  • Development partners

    Programme design, universal access, and monitoring and evaluation for donor and DFI-funded work.

  • Regulators and ministries

    Policy development, regulatory reform, and impact assessment.

Ten advisory services, three practice areas

Each service can be commissioned on its own or combined with others into an integrated engagement. Open a service to see what it covers and what you receive.

Request a tailored proposal

Regulation and policy

Regulatory impact assessments Understanding what proposed rules mean before they take effect.
  • Analysis of proposed or newly issued regulations, directives, and licence conditions
  • Cost-benefit and compliance-burden analysis for operators and stakeholders
  • Sector-wide and firm-level impact modelling
  • Assessment of consumer, competition, and investment effects
  • Stakeholder mapping and consultation-response preparation

You receive: impact assessment report, options analysis, formal consultation submission.

Licensing and compliance advisory Getting authorized and staying in good standing.
  • Licence category identification and application preparation and support
  • Liaison with the regulator and relevant ministries throughout the process
  • Spectrum, numbering, type-approval, and interconnection requirements guidance
  • Compliance gap assessments and audit readiness reviews
  • Compliance frameworks, policies, and reporting calendars
  • Ongoing monitoring of regulatory obligations and renewal management

You receive: licensing roadmap, application dossier, compliance manual, compliance calendar.

Policy advisory and analysis Evidence-driven support for sound sector policy.
  • Telecommunications and ICT policy and strategy development or review
  • Legal and regulatory framework reform advice
  • Universal access and service policy design
  • Spectrum management, infrastructure sharing, and digital inclusion policy
  • Policy research, position papers, and regional and international benchmarking
  • Stakeholder consultation design and facilitation

You receive: policy paper, reform recommendations, benchmarking study, consultation report.

Markets and strategy

Market research and competition analysis Fact-based intelligence for confident commercial decisions.
  • Market sizing and segmentation across mobile, fixed, broadband, data, mobile money, and enterprise connectivity
  • Demand forecasting and consumer and enterprise usage studies
  • Competitor benchmarking on pricing, coverage, product portfolio, and service quality
  • Market share, concentration, and competitive dynamics assessment
  • Wholesale and infrastructure market mapping: towers, fiber, spectrum, data centers
  • Opportunity and risk scans for emerging segments

You receive: market landscape report, competitor profiles, opportunity matrix, executive briefing.

Market entry advisory A structured path into the market, from concept to launch.
  • Entry feasibility and go/no-go assessment
  • Entry-mode evaluation: greenfield, partnership, joint venture, acquisition, or wholesale model
  • Regulatory, legal, and corporate establishment pathway
  • Partner, vendor, and local stakeholder identification and introductions
  • Go-to-market strategy, positioning, and launch planning
  • Business case and investment readiness support

You receive: market entry strategy, entry business case, launch plan, partner shortlist.

Emerging markets advisory Navigating high-growth, high-complexity telecoms environments.
  • Country and market attractiveness screening across West Africa and other emerging regions
  • Political, regulatory, currency, and operational risk assessment with mitigation planning
  • Business models for low-ARPU, mobile-first, and underserved markets
  • Rural and last-mile connectivity models, including infrastructure sharing and community networks
  • Mobile money, digital payments, and financial inclusion opportunity assessment
  • Local partnership, localization, and stakeholder engagement strategies
  • Investor and development-partner readiness, including donor and DFI-funded programmes

You receive: emerging market assessment, risk register, market prioritization matrix, partnership and investment roadmap.

Strategic planning Clear direction and an executable roadmap.
  • Corporate and business-unit strategy development
  • Network expansion and rural connectivity strategy
  • Product, pricing, and revenue-growth strategy
  • Scenario planning and risk assessment
  • Organizational alignment, governance, and operating-model design
  • Translation of strategy into initiatives, milestones, and KPIs

You receive: strategic plan, implementation roadmap, KPI framework, board presentation.

Economics, performance and transformation

Economic analysis Rigorous numbers behind investment and policy choices.
  • Sector contribution and socio-economic impact studies
  • Cost modelling, tariff, and pricing analysis
  • Financial feasibility and investment appraisal (NPV, IRR, payback)
  • Cost-benefit analysis of infrastructure and connectivity projects
  • Spectrum valuation and licence-fee analysis
  • Demand elasticity, affordability, and competition-economics assessments

You receive: economic model, feasibility study, valuation report, economic impact brief.

Monitoring and evaluation Measuring performance, learning, and demonstrating results.
  • Design of M&E frameworks, logframes, and results chains
  • Indicator selection, baseline studies, and data collection systems
  • Programme and project evaluation, mid-term and final
  • Quality-of-service and universal access performance tracking
  • Dashboards and periodic performance reporting
  • Lessons-learned reviews and recommendations for course correction

You receive: M&E framework, baseline report, evaluation report, performance dashboard.

Digital transformation support Modernizing organizations, networks, and services for the digital economy.
  • Digital maturity assessments and transformation roadmaps for operators, regulators, and enterprises
  • Digital strategy and use-case prioritization: e-government, e-commerce, digital financial services, smart infrastructure
  • IT, OSS and BSS modernization, cloud migration, and vendor-selection advisory
  • Customer experience and digital channel strategy
  • Data, analytics, cybersecurity, and data-protection governance frameworks
  • Change management, capacity building, and digital skills development
  • Programme management and delivery assurance for transformation initiatives

You receive: digital maturity report, transformation roadmap, vendor evaluation, change-management plan.

How an engagement runs

Every engagement follows the same four phases, so you know what happens next and what you will have at the end.

  1. Discovery and assessment

    We understand your objectives, context, and constraints.

  2. Planning and strategy

    We agree the approach, scope, and how success will be measured.

  3. Execution and facilitation

    We deliver the analysis and advice, and lead stakeholder engagement.

  4. Launch and transition

    We hand over deliverables, build your team's capacity, and plan next steps.

Services that work well together

  • Market entry with licensing and compliance, for a single route from feasibility to authorization.
  • Emerging markets advisory with economic analysis, for investment cases built on local evidence.
  • Digital transformation with strategic planning, so change programmes connect to corporate goals.

Why clients choose Veridian

Local depth

We are based in Monrovia and grounded in Liberia's regulatory environment and the wider West African market. We know the institutions, the processes, and the practical constraints.

Independent, evidence-led advice

Our recommendations rest on analysis, not assumption. You receive practical roadmaps you can act on and defend to boards, regulators, and funders.

International practice, applied locally

We translate ITU-T, ITU-R and ITU-D recommendations and regional frameworks into practical instruments that fit the market you operate in.

Led by someone who has written the rules

Veridian's telecoms practice is led by a former senior official of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority, with fifteen years at the centre of the sector as regulator, programme lead, and operator.

Portrait of Blidi Elliott

Blidi Elliott

Managing Member, Veridian LLC

Blidi Elliott has worked at a senior level in telecommunications policy, regulation, and management since 2011. Most recently he served as Director of Strategy at the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), where he led the Authority's 5-Year Strategic Plan (2025–2029), directed regulatory impact assessments, and turned national telecoms and ICT policy into enforceable regulatory instruments.

He led the development of Liberia's regulations on wholesale access for value-added services, the National Numbering Regulations and Numbering Plan, the Satellite Communications Guidelines, and the Mobile Tariff Guidelines. He also drafted the LTA Order implementing ECOWAS free roaming and oversaw its launch between Liberia and Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, and Ghana.

Before joining the LTA's leadership he coordinated the World Bank's West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (WARCIP) in Liberia, which brought the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable ashore and, with it, the country's first high-speed broadband.

Career

  1. 2023–2026Director of Strategy, Liberia Telecommunications Authority. ITU focal person; member of Liberia's delegation to the AfCFTA Digital Trade Committee.
  2. 2016–2022Director of Administration, Liberia Telecommunications Authority. Team lead on the mobile voice and data price floor that ended the operators' price war; drafted the IMEI Regulations and USSD Guidelines; worked with USAID Pro-ICT on universal access, broadband backbone, TV white space, and FM licensing.
  3. 2011–2016Project Coordinator, World Bank WARCIP, Liberia. ACE cable landing; legal instruments for the Cable Consortium of Liberia and the Universal Access Fund; broadband backbone feasibility study; LRIC+ interconnection cost model; competition policy.
  4. 2004–2010Business development and general management, Consolidated Group and MultiChoice Liberia. Launched VSAT and wireless internet services that became Liberia's largest VSAT provider.
  5. 1998–2004Director General and Deputy Director General, Liberia Broadcasting System; Managing Director, Power FM & TV.

Education and certification

  • Executive MBA, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA)
  • Spectrum Management, Mobile Sector Taxation, Competition Policy in the Digital Age, Digital Identity: UK Telecommunications Academy
  • Regulatory Impact Assessment, Next Generation Markets and Technologies: Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation
  • Monitoring and Evaluation Systems: World Bank
  • ICT for Development: Georgia Tech

Tell us what you are planning

Describe your project or question and we will reply within two working days with the right next step, or a tailored proposal.

Office
101 Smythe Road, Old Road
Monrovia, Liberia

Telecoms advisory enquiry

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