Strong vendor partnerships and ecosystems are essential in developing the next generation of services. Operators are turning to vendor partners and members of the mobile value chain to assist in developing new services. The market will determine the winners.
Ecosystems Help Evolution to 4G Services
(transcript excerpt)
By: N. Manjaro
Highlights
- 4G services must deliver more than improved latency and higher data rates
- Ecosystems expedite applications development and services deployment
- Standards-based environments — key to successful ecosystem collaboration
The telecom market is moving toward a more open and competitive environment. The notion that 4G services will include existing 3G data services with improved latency and higher data rates will not be enough to persuade customers to purchase new devices or pay more for services. Operators will need compelling new services that can be deployed quickly across networks, devices and regions and for which customers are willing to pay.
As operators begin to deploy Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMAX, they face uncertain economic conditions along with necessary deployment costs. For example, Verizon Wireless has spent US $9.36 billion (€6.7 billion) on 4G spectrum. ABI Research projects that an undertaking of this magnitude will need a further investment of US $20 billion (€14.4 billion) to fully deploy LTE.
LTE’s all-IP core and self-optimized radio access network will significantly reduce operating costs. However, business cases are built on revenue not cost savings. Companies must have a clear business case showing a high probability of recouping investments. This is why operators are focused on new revenue streams.
Delivering new services quickly will require collaboration across an entire ecosystem. Operators are turning to vendor partners and members of the mobile value chain to assist in developing new services. Innovation will be key to growing revenue and increasing market share.
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