According to Ramgopal Vidyanand, Celltick’s vice president of corporate marketing and business development, one of the biggest challenges for mobile operators today is that mobile devices have become the primary screen for users.
In practical terms, that means operators who are currently lagging behind face an uphill battle; the situation is unlikely to improve without significant change.
“I think the operator’s relevance is waning,” Vidyanand tells TelecomsTech ahead of his appearance at Apps World Europe, adding that operators must ensure “they’re still relevant to the user and that the user actually appreciates them, and maintains a relationship with them.”
Recent industry research supports this concern. A study from Ovum published this week predicts that mobile operators will experience global revenue decline by 2018 — a first for the mobile industry.
The study’s outlook is mixed. While the press release states “the golden age of telecoms growth and prosperity is waning,” Ovum projects a modest compound annual growth rate of 1.5% for operators in Western Europe, with stronger gains expected in regions such as the United States and Africa.
Vidyanand attributes much of the problem to an outdated financial model.
“Operators are becoming less and less relevant on value-added services,” he says. “It is a fundamental problem.”
He explains that as markets mature, traditional pricing strategies — such as refusing to offer unlimited or all-you-can-eat plans — will face increasing pressure.
“There’s going to be a few people left, and there isn’t any more acquisition left, so people are going to fight each other. That becomes a problem for the operators,” he adds.
Partnerships with over-the-top (OTT) players can seem attractive; for example, in August Telefónica announced collaboration with Evernote. However, such deals carry risks. As one CEO observed during an operator vs OTT session at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, the mentality among some OTT firms can be “you invest in broadband networks, we take the profit.”
For Vidyanand, the deeper issue is that traditional carriers no longer hold the same appeal as agile handset manufacturers and app creators. “I don’t care about them anymore,” he says. “Except to pay my bill.”
That distance between carriers and users is precisely what Celltick is trying to address: creating bridges that allow operators to deliver high-value services through apps and platforms. This focus will shape the company’s presence at Apps World Europe.
When asked what he expects from the event, Vidyanand says he’s eager to see genuine innovation and to learn what attendees perceive as the greatest problems and opportunities.
“It’s interesting to see the real innovations, what people think of as problems, and what people think are the opportunities,” he notes. “There are a few problems. People think that some of the stuff that might actually be really good long-term opportunities forget tactics, whilst some people get really into the tactics and forget their long-term future.”
He emphasizes that the goal isn’t merely incremental change for its own sake. “To me, it’s not about the incremental, but about being incremental and resulting in a much larger change,” he says.
Ramgopal Vidyanand is speaking on the operator track at Apps World Europe on 22–23 October at Earls Court 2 in London.