In the launch of their whitepaper titled “The OTT Opportunity for Operators” and related infographics (click for the full version), Silverstreet, the mobile messaging specialist and diversified telecom group highlighted the need for Operators to strategize their positioning in the messaging segment. Silverstreet cited Informa Telecoms & Media's data saying that in 2012, OTT surpassed SMS, with 19 billion messages sent via apps versus 17.5 billion SMS messages while in terms of users, there are 3.5 billion SMS users vs. 586 million users of the messaging apps. According to Silverstreet, telcos and OTT providers are working together, for example, Viber announced this February that 30% of their future revenue was up for grabs by whoever supplied the billing mechanism for the premium, operator-esque services the OTT players plan on charging for. Whatsapp, another famous voice and messaging app is also teaming up with a number of Telecom Operators.
According to Silverstreet CEO Simon Landsheer, “There is also a huge opportunity for mobile operators in developing countries where smart phone uptake still lags behind that of feature phones. SMS gives OTT users a way to communicate with feature phone users, so they can communicate with 100% of the market rather than selected smartphones.”
Source - Silverstreet (Oct 10, 2013) | Follow US @ |