article page
| 1
| 2
| 3 |
In many emerging markets, particularly the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, subscriber growth is as strong as ever. In the first quarter of 2009, while most other industries were languishing, Bharti Airtel in India added 8.4 million customers – the company’s highest ever addition for a single quarter. More users, using more content.
Meanwhile, developed providers in saturated markets are finding new ways to increase the profitability of each customer and are actually encouraging customers to use more bandwidth-intensive devices and services. The end goal is that providers will be able to charge them more for the kind of bandwidth they will need.
So, with more customers, growing use of bandwidth-heavy services, and increasing proliferation of devices to more readily access those services, existing bandwidth is being stretched to its limits. This is especially true for mobile providers who are hindered by the laws of physics. There is only so much radio transmission spectrum to go around.
|
|
There is only so much radio transmission spectrum to go around. |
|
there is usually a general preference for a particular type. In the emerging markets of East Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, mobile data services, for instance, are primarily usage-based: subscribers are charged varying fees for specific services, applications, and content usage. While in more mature markets like Western Europe and North America, mobile data plans tend to use a flat-rate structure: one price up front gives a user unlimited access.
Today, these flat-rate plans are doing well as broadband access and mobile data are still a relative novelty to many. But there are cracks appearing in the flat-rate model’s shiny exterior, and operators that are benefitting from flat-rate plans today may face real service, network, and customer experience troubles quickly.
As flat-rate plans reach more of the mass market, and as users steadily demand higher
|
|
|
|
Long term plans by providers to solve the bandwidth pitfall and increase customers’ quality of experience have centered on making networks physically larger. By adding infrastructure, a larger pipe would be available to cram all the data through. Simple enough. But such build-outs are costly and are unlikely to produce a return on investment for several years. So, as headlines filled with terms like downturn, bailout, Madoff, and recession, providers turned to tools and strategies to make more of existing systems. By using monitoring and policy control methods like traffic shaping, more content can go down the existing pipe more quickly and reliably.
Flat-Rate Flat Line
The telecom world revolves around two basic billing and charging strategies – usage–based charging and flat-rate billing. Depending on region, subscriber type and provider type,
|
|
and higher bandwidth levels, providers are beginning to hit a wall where maximum revenues are reached but customers continue to consume more: a serious dilemma for providers.
Complicating things further is the growing need to share those flat-rate revenues with an increasing number of partners. When the iPhone was launched, Apple became the first device manufacturer to actually take a share of AT&T’s revenue for each service plan AT&T sold. The strategy has worked wonderfully with Apple as the only partner involved. But directing the correct share of the pie to a growing number of entities requires reliable network monitoring and policy controls. Glenn Lurie, who leads AT&T’s new Emerging Devices Group, and who spearheaded the iPhone launch for AT&T, has said such revenue sharing models
article page
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|
