Our dependence on information and communications technologies (ICT) has now become essential to the way the vast majority of the world’s population carries out their daily activities. Whether it is a farmer in the outskirts of Kenya using his mobile phone to send funds, or a stock broker in New York buying shares on her smartphone, the technology has made it possible for people to do what they want to do from almost anywhere, anytime. This has resulted in the fast adoption of ICT products and services, which is responsible for the introductions of many new players in the field, and established carriers are facing great competition, resulting in an industry that is in a state of flux.
Computaris (News - Alert), a system integrator and software development services provider, predicted 2015 would be the year in which VoLTE services, market consolidation and revenue leakage from OTT will play a greater role.
Rapidly evolving technologies and the emergence of new players has forced the business model of traditional operators to change. Even though the threat from OTT was acknowledged by most everyone early on, Computaris said 2015 would be the year in which operators will be taking defensive actions to protect their revenues. According to Ovum (News - Alert), telcos will lose an estimated $71 billion between 2013 and 2016 globally in SMS and voice revenues, resulting in OTT providers taking 30 percent of voice traffic in just seven years.
To address this challenge telecom operators are merging with fixed and wireless operators and vice versa to deliver more bundled services. According to Computaris, the increased deployment of VoLTE around the world means operators can now offer more communications solutions, allowing them to compete with OTT service providers and others.
This will require future-proofing mobile networks as operators deal with bandwidth and other capacity issues. Wi-Fi offloading will be essential to effectively manage their networks, and provide Internet access to subscribers to ensure the most reliable data is delivered to their customers. In the next couple of years NFV and network virtualization will see trials, but according to the forecast, widespread deployment won’t be here until the next decade.
A technology that is already available and will be applied more broadly in 2015 is data analytics. Data will be used to provide personalized solutions, as most experts see customers service being the great differentiator for many operators. With near 100 percent customer penetration rates in most developed countries around the world, the information Big Data provides can be used to deliver actionable insights for improved personalized customer service and revenue development.
Operators will face more challenges as new technologies are developed, and unless they rise to the occasion and introduce innovative services customers want to pay for, their revenues will continue to decline; the billions lost through SMS by OTT providers is just one example.
“The next year is going to see a lot of change in the telecoms market, and in some respects it will be the year that determines their future success” said Raluca Rusu, CEO at Computaris.
Edited by Alisen Downey