 | Issue: | Asia-Pacific II 2011 |
| Article no.: | 6 | |
| Topic: | Mobile data ecosystems – a new world for operators | |
| Author: | Chris Jenkins | |
| Title: | Executive Vice President & Managing Director, Asia Pacific | |
| Organisation: | Acision | |
| PDF size: | 655KB |
About author
Chris Jenkins is the Executive Vice President and Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Acision responsibilities for all of Acision’s mobile data services, mobile data control and mobile data charging in the region. Prior to his current appointment, Mr Jenkins was the Executive Vice President of Acision’s mobile data charging business unit and Chief Marketing Officer leading corporate marketing. Prior to Acision, Mr Jenkins held leadership positions with Openwave, Bytemobile and Ericsson where he served as managing director for Ericsson’s UK Satellite business.
Article abstract
Mobile devices provide a wide range of data-driven services that have become an essential part of our daily lives. The same technology that has made smartphones and tablets common has also stressed the capacity of most mobile operators’ networks and internal systems. Competition has forced down prices to a point where user revenues are declining despite the growing traffic. Operators are working tirelessly to find ways to build the capacity to cost-effectively deliver high-quality services and to re-build their revenues.
Full Article
From a simple two-way communication device, the mobile phone has evolved with the technological advances, changing consumer behaviour and delivering an increasingly digital way of life. Using it, we store personal information, connect to social networks, conduct business, pick up breaking news, browse entertainment and, increasingly, pay for goods and content. Unsurprisingly, we increasingly see our mobile as an always-connected, fundamental part of our lives. In reality, it’s not the physical device that we hold in such high esteem, but the data that it holds and gives us access to. The way in which a consumer chooses to interact with data services alters depending on the individual’s device, location and the activity they wish to perform – or their ‘comfort zones’. For example, home-zone activities may consist of downloading movie or music files, online gaming or online shopping on a smart or tablet device. Outside the comfort zone, activity may be confined to messaging, email, calls, and Web browsing depending on network connection, speeds and performance. Different users will have different comfort zones; a father driving might listen to streamed or downloaded music, make calls or listen to text messages while his daughter in the back seat might be playing online games or watching movies. It’s incredible how simple mobile devices have grown up to become such an integral part of our lives. With the advances of the mobile handset and the explosive growth of mobile data services and applications over the past 12 months, the mobile data ecosystem we operate in has constantly evolved. However, the smartphone tsunami and the first wave of mobile connected devices such as tablets have introduced an onslaught of new applications and added to the demands upon Asian operators. Social media applications, such as Facebook Places and Foursquare all deliver ‘presence’ based services in real-time. Presence can be integrated into the device so that it can interact with calls and messaging services. In the future, users may also adopt multiple identities or ‘personas’, dependent on what mode, mood, and location they are in. These personas and presence will allow the device to select who is able to communicate with them and how they access services. To maximise these opportunities operators must ensure they continue to evolve with consumer trends and deliver quality performance, differentiate themselves and build consumer loyalty. Unique to mobile operators in Asia is the data that logs an individual’s activity. If managed correctly, mobile operators, brands and services can leverage these data assets, this customer intelligence, to better serve the needs of the consumer and spark new revenue opportunities. While the increased uptake of mobile data services and the mobile broadband boom has created new revenue streams for mobile operators in Asia, it has also increased mobile network congestion and spurred a decline in ARPU (average revenue per user) because of the increasingly inexpensive, competitive, flat-fee data packages. This situation is becoming more extreme as we move to an all-IP environment – as voice moves to IP with LTE (Long Term Evolution) and migrates away from 2G, and as messaging services begin to converge with IP services. This will make more bandwidth available for services and more flexibility for a fully integrated services environment, but also introduce new services that consume more bandwidth, i.e 3D TV. Applications that control and charge for bandwidth will be as important as the delivery of services. With the relentless growth in mobile data usage – how will the industry create a fully functioning mobile data ecosystem? To balance the need for cost control and to build ARPU while ensuring consistently high levels of service, Asian operators are trying to improve connectivity, optimise their operations and monetise their advanced services. To deliver differentiated services without breaking the bank, operators need to be able to see and manage all aspects of that service. Only when network type, location, network status, device type and other relevant aspects of the service can be controlled, can operators deliver new services within budgetary and quality constraints. Service optimisation allows operators to offer bandwidth-heavy data services without putting needless pressure on the network. By using the right service optimisation tools, operators can use up to 30 per cent less hardware per gigabyte. Once introduced, services can meet their full potential by leveraging the data assets, harnessing subscriber behaviour insights, and allowing link-ups with relevant third party applications to offer the consumer a truly personalised service. To take advantage of these emerging opportunities, we expect new operator models to unfold across Asia Pacific as local and regional operators play to their strengths for competitive advantage. We could see social telcos specialising in Web/telecoms convergence and rich services and access providers using the ISP (Internet service provider) model or a cloud services platform, offering a multitude services within the cloud including financial services and applications. Undoubtedly, such advances will increase pressure on the network and any architectural deficiencies could hamper service rollout and performance. By building architectural flexibility operators can address issues, provide performance support or offload traffic to other networks to ensure that the quality of service or quality of experience does not suffer. Managing explosive increases in data services traffic will be fundamental to success. To do this well, operators will need integrated solutions that can cost-efficiently handle rising traffic, support evolving services and media formats, and scale to meet traffic demands with minimal operational effort. New network technologies such as network sharing, LTE, WiMAX and migration all-IP networks can deliver significant cost savings, let mobile operators choose between a variety of business models, from simple broadband access modes to full two-way service provider models. This is the dawn of a new age for the mobile industry, – exciting, but full of new challenges. To remain successful, operators in Asia need to rethink their role in the mobile data services delivery ecosystem. They need to ensure that all services can be delivered via any network, including IP. Operators should increase their data traffic capacity to meet the growing demand and to guarantee the quality of experience that the end users – unconcerned about the underlying technologies or complexities – expect. Our research regarding consumer perception of quality of experience (QoE) issues shows that 83 per cent of consumers have faced problems such as slow speeds (68 per cent), inadequate network coverage (42 per cent) and getting connected (38 per cent). Operators need to address these QoE problems before they alienate consumers and hamper the sector’s development. This evolution must also ensure the maintenance of the customary, ubiquitous, access and interconnection between operators that users need to interact with their friends and colleagues via traditional services, regardless of whether they are in a country – or on a network – that does not support new technologies. Affordability of the infrastructure underpinning this brave new mobile data world will be one of the most significant barriers to success for operators everywhere. Vendors are applying their experience and understanding of the issues facing operators across the world and are helping guide their customers through the quagmire of cost, volume and latency requirements in order to deliver, rate, charge and control the quality of services to consumers the world over.
