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motivations behind different types of NGN implementations, there remains uncertainty over precisely how the new technology will disrupt the status quo.
In fact, there are a myriad of unanswered questions. Which services, applications, and features will connect with users and generate the biggest returns? Which stakeholders in the value-chain stand to reap the greatest benefits? Will customers opt for service bundles or “pick ‘n’ mix” solutions? Which access technologies will come to dominate: cable, DSL or fibre, mobile or wireless? Only time will answer such questions, but it is useful to look closely at two of them: the uncertainties over service demand and the new service value chain.
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While the investment community may
have initially over-heated the valuations
of companies working in this new
arena, there is no denying the radical
impact of the technology. |
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content aggregator). Similarly, network services may be offered directly, via VNOs, or through sales and services channels. For example, a hosted business communications service, such as IP Centrex, may be offered via local partners that provide a range of IT and communications services to their customers. To maximise value from the relationship, those services partners may want to offer an own-branded service with their |
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Service demand is about delivering value. In the consumer market, for example, value is both personal and social: to teenagers, it’s about being new and cool; to their parents it’s about being simple and reliable. To deliver true value, therefore, you have to know your customers intimately and respond to their demands instantly. The first requirement is pure marketing; the second requires the platform capability and business processes that can support, for example, a new feature success rate as low as 10%. The costs of rolling out new services and features will include enabling the network capabilities, integrating operations and business support, promoting the services, and acquiring the customers. By minimising the service implementation costs, including operations and business support, the operator is freed to do more than repackage existing services, and can directly address the uncertain demand for new services.
In regards to the value chain, different models may apply depending on the relative power of the content and network providers and on the accessibility of the target market to the content provider: a strong content provider may command premium value and so may opt to sell exclusive rights to a major service provider that wants to attract the maximum number of subscribers; other content providers may look to provide services directly; and others will want to buy into multiple channels (e.g. via a mobile
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own pricing models. The network operator, therefore, must offer both the most appropriate service features for the end-users but also the management and charging flexibility for the channels.
It is likely that the NGN will consolidate into a small number of new business models over the next few years. Operators expecting to exploit this change – at whatever level and position in the market – must be ready with a platform that enables rapid, low cost service rollout with well-targeted new features and services encompassing all types of network and multimedia. Whether this requires an IMS solution, an NGN or softswitch architecture, or a standalone IP platform, will depend on their role in the value chain and the range of services they intend to offer.
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