Operators' voice and messaging traffic lost to OTT (Over The Top) players such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Skype will cost network operators $14 billion in revenues globally this year, up by 26% from 2013, according to Juniper Research's latest report - Mobile Operator Business Models: Challenges, Opportunities & Strategies 2014-2019. The report found that in a number of markets, including Italy, Spain and the UK, operator mobile voice revenues had fallen to less than 60% of their value five years ago. It argued that a combination of IM, VoIP and social media substitution was primarily responsible, resulting not only in lost revenues but in additional costs due to the scale of signalling traffic.
Juniper Research however identifies major revenue streams from M2M and Big Data with the potential to deliver cumulative revenues to operators in excess of $66 billion over the next five years. In addition, Juniper recommends Operators to implement Direct Carrier Billing to retain a foothold in the lucrative mobile content space, and that they enhance their analytics packages to monetize consumer 'big data.'
Operators can boost core revenues by introducing higher-value shared data plans or by bundling content into a monthly subscription, said Juniper Research.
Dr Windsor Holden
In areas such as M2M (Machine to Machine) and mobile money, operators can achieve a substantial revenue uplift by focussing on full service provision rather than simple connectivity.
