Found a mobile network in 1995 with a handful of masts and a lot of nerve. Thirty years later, own the whole country.
Telco Director is a turn-based business sim about running a mobile network in Britain. One turn is one week. You set the price, build the masts, chase the handsets everyone suddenly wants, and try to get bigger than the four rivals doing exactly the same thing to you.
THE WEEKLY LOOP
Read the week: who joined, who walked, what it cost. Move a few levers. End the week. Most weeks take a minute. The big ones — a spectrum auction, a flagship handset launch, a rival on the ropes — take longer, and they're the ones you'll remember.
BUILD THE NETWORK
Eleven UK regions on a stylised map, each with its own population and its own build costs — Scotland and Wales will hurt. Three ladders per region: masts for coverage, capacity for headroom, shops for signings. Push a region past 85% load and customers get congestion, get annoyed, and leave. Push it past 120% and they're simply turned away.
WIN THE CUSTOMER
Five segments — Youth, Professionals, Families, Business, Seniors — and every one wants something different. Youth want the phone and the price. Business want coverage and someone who picks up the phone. Every week they score you against the other lot on quality, value, handsets, brand and service, and move accordingly.
THE LAB
Research runs on points and on time — 3G takes a year in the lab however rich you are. And researching a generation isn't launching one: your masts keep running the old kit until you pay to retrofit them, region by region. 2G to GPRS to 3G to 4G to 5G, then on into tech that hasn't happened yet.
THE DEALS
Negotiate supply with Nordica, Motive, Pearberry, Sonic, Pomme and Galaxia. Commit to volumes, set subsidies, bid for exclusivity on the flagship. Miss the phone of the moment and watch your best customers walk. Fill a warehouse with last year's darling and watch the cash go instead.
THE MONEY
Debt is how you grow and debt is how you die. Leverage funds the land-grab; a credit rating sets what it costs; a downgrade spiral has ended more directors than any rival ever did. Weekly receipts, annual report cards, and a lending desk that is always pleased to see you.
THE LONG GAME
You don't reach 100% by being popular. You reach it by buying the competition — starve a rival with a price war, bid when they're cheap, then get the deal past a regulator who gets less friendly the bigger you get. Investigations, price caps, forced access, blocked mergers. The last acquisition is the boss fight.
TWO WAYS TO PLAY
Historical: technology lands when it really landed, the handset makers rise and fall on schedule, the crashes arrive on time. Random: the dates shuffle, a different maker wins the smartphone war, and knowing your history won't save you. Start in 1995 for the full arc or 2005 for the smartphone era. Easy, Normal or Difficult.
NO FAFF
No ads. No accounts. No sign-up, no data collection, no internet needed — it all runs on your phone and your saves stay there. Optional one-off purchases if you want them: Monopoly Mode (found a company with no merger regulator) and the USA Map (twelve regions, American rivals, dollars).
Every operator, manufacturer and regulator in the game is fictional. Any resemblance to a network you've shouted at is a coincidence you're welcome to enjoy.
