Analyses, Commentary, Perceptions

With the advent of new technologies like 3G, 4G, WiMax and LTE, the mobile phone is slowly evolving from a portable telephone to a small, handheld device that is the converging point of all your communication needs -- work, personal and entertainment included! The technology advancements, especially the evolution of 3G over the past eight years, has been luring operators with the greater scope of high-margin, value-added services that they offer.

In the early years of 3G, several operators tried building their businesses around the technology advantage and superior voice quality of service, and failed when users couldn’t make out the promised difference in call quality. Now, service providers see a definite opportunity in differentiating their services based on wireless broadband and value-added data services. The higher bandwidth and faster data transfer rate are a good lure for users -- especially to the young, tech-hungry urban users -- more so, as the declining handset prices has been lowering their entry costs. 3G/4G has truly widened the possibilities of introducing a whole gamut of services like mobile video conferencing, mobile TV, mobile video telephony, high-speed internet access, streaming video and music, movie downloads and multi-player gaming. Thus, with the roll-out of 3G/4G, it is evident that data will take the centrestage in the coming years. Service providers are attracted by the greater scope of these high-margin, value-added services, and they see this as a definite solace to their eroding revenues, declining ARPU and increasing competitive pressures. 

But the other side of the coin presents some challenges to the service providers. Besides the challenges that arise from the network and infrastructure ends, having the adequate BSS/OSS capabilities are also vital. According to IDC, during this age of technological advancements, the wireless industry has to undergo a major revision in its approach towards the OSS/BSS. What is required is the possession of a system that provides them the required flexibility and scalability to synchronize across their siloed legacy infrastructure that enables them to roll out the high-margin, high-volume, value-added services. Also, the system should help them price these services based on content, context, usage, size, time of day, etc., to enable accrual of higher margins through these services. Analysts predict that customer stickiness improves if they become users of the provider’s content services. So, 3G/4G is no doubt a definite game changer - if service providers act aptly, coming up with the right price for the right packages, upselling or showcasing for the right customers in time. They can have a comfortable ride with a good market share and a profitable business with these! At the same time, operators will also need to think of a complete overhaul, which they might want to do at some point of time. This calls for systems that are compliant to modern standards like 3GPP’s IMS, TMForum’s IPDR, etc.

Thus, technology evolutions, be it 3G, HSDPA, 4G, WiMax or LTE, are no doubt a game changer; but the mantra for service providers is to be ready with the right systems - to embrace the make-over as they move through the adoption of new technologies. Once they are defined to make advantage of the huge potential lying ahead, mitigating the challenges will be a cakewalk!