Showing posts with label Telecom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Telecom. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Telecom Operators in India should take charge of Mobile Advertising
The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that telecom operators in India - and not ad networks, VAS companies, content creators or gaming companies – need to lead the mobile advertising charge. Advertising needs to become for them, a strong in-house function, with someone strategically working with agencies and advertisers, to figure out how to leverage advertising on the mobile. We know the reality of the telecom market in India – the average revenue per user, and more importantly, the average revenue per minute (indicative of tariff) has dropped to all time lows, where it is hoped to have plateaued.
There is a perceptible shift taking place in India towards data, and it is only a matter of time before data supercedes other Value Added Services. For some it probably already has. But there’s a problem: spends on data are cannibalistic, and from anecdotal evidence, we believe that, in a multi-SIM environment, the average balance in a prepaid account is between Rs. 20 to Rs. 40. Sure, there will be ‘Pocket Internet’ data only recharges, but I’m not sure if this mode of consumption will scale, especially since it requires a separate purchase each time.
In a media business, the alternate to subscription is Advertising, and telco’s need to start thinking of themselves as a media business, looking at another revenue stream to offset the crunch they can be expected to face. To do this, they do have their own advertising setup, one which works with their clients to offer customized advertising solutions, acquires content which they can monetize through advertising alone, or by using advertising to subsidize content.
I’m not saying that there aren’t VAS companies or agencies who can’t do this – many have tried, and some may have succeeded, but to a limited extent: it hasn’t scaled. You can’t leave it to ad networks, since they are typically bottom feeders if not doing site representation. The delivery of content and advertising can be outsourced, but right now, when both consumers and advertisers look at advertising on mobile with suspicion, as spam, it is important for someone in-house to ensure that the advertisers objectives are met, consumer experience is not spoilt, and most importantly, the telecom operators access/subscription business is not compromised. But it is important for advertising on mobile in India that telecom operators to put their weight behind it, as a strategic area of focus, and send a message out to doubters that mobile as a medium for advertisers should be taken seriously. It’s the only way mobile advertising will scale quickly.
Maybe a telco needs to take a long term punt and buy Mobile rights to the a Cricket tournament, make live streaming or live audio commentary cheap or free, and look to sell advertising.sourceSaturday, February 5, 2011
What George Clooney and telecom security have in common??
A hacker is no longer just a grungy guy in his mom’s basement who takes down websites to impress his friends. Cybercrime has become more like Ocean’s Eleven — organized, sophisticated and money-hungry crooks going after high-profile targets. They probably don’t all look like George Clooney and Brad Pitt, however, so be on the lookout for more than dashing good looks.
These thugs aren’t so much after you as they are your customers. But because carriers operate data centers for managed hosting, cloud or other managed IT services, service providers are once again caught in the crossfire.
Hackers are dishing out more frequent and ferocious distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against service providers — reaching the 100 Gbps DDoS attack barrier last year — according to a recent telecom security study we picked apart this week, which revealed some pretty scary stuff.
Half of the carriers surveyed conceded that their firewalls and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) — the very infrastructure there to protect data — had themselves been targeted and were taken offline due to DDoS attacks. An eye-popping 55% of mobile carriers reported outages in 2010 due to security incidents, and 59% confessed that they had limited or no visibility into packet core security threats. Eek. Wish we could say this was our April Fool’s edition, but unfortunately this telecom security bulletin is all too real.source
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The Future of Telecom
Mobile phones will be tools for wholesome entertainment as well as commerce in the near future India is a unique market with the largest number of operators in the world, 15, servicing 700 mn mobile phone connections with lowest mobile tariffs globally. With the upcoming 3G services, value added services (VAS) are expected to drive conspicuous consumption. Service providers are relying heavily on VAS such as high speed data applications and mobile entertainment options including 'TV everywhere'.
In the recent years, the Indian telecom industry has witnessed phenomenal growth. The last year, in fact, has been one of the most exciting years for the industry with the 3G auctions and MNP being launched. A conducive business environment, favorable policies, and political stability have spurred the growth of this sector (notwithstanding the telecom ministry woes). The number of people using mobile handsets currently to access the web is 5-10 times more than those using a PC. As the telecom revenues continue to grow aggressively, telecom service providers are now beginning to make all endeavors to enhance their profitability amid dropping ARPUs, low tarrifs and cut-throat competition.
The introduction of 3G and WiMax technologies along with Mobile Number Portability (MNP) will be game changers in the Indian market. As per Trai estimates, India will have 19 mn WiMax subscribers by 2012 and nearly half of current mobile users as 3G subscribers. In the near future, we will see powerful devices backed by huge databases of applications helping consumers (individuals/businesses or both) benefit from mobile broadband that will offer mobile computing experiences beyond imagination.
With the launch of 3G services by the private operators, post the successful conclusion of 3G auctions by the government, incumbent operators are spending huge sums of money to get their networks 3G ready. There are going to be exciting times ahead, though it remains to be seen how 3G will impact both enterprises and retail customers when all the service providers initiate 3G services next year. However, one cannot ignore the power of mass entertainment medium that a mobile is soon going to become.
In the 3G age, the services will be provided under 4 core areas of access, video, applications, and gaming. Mobile phones will become a one-stop-shop for your daily needs. It will be used as a gateway to Internet access, passkey for high security commercial transactions, and an entertainment and information keeper. M-commerce, m-banking, m-trading, m-wallet, location based offers and mobile TV, have become the most talked about trends in the industry today. For enterprises, big or small, smarter devices combined with third generation wireless networks and an increased demand for workforce mobility will make business applications more attractive and popular.
The last few months have seen the market for tablet devices warm up with several vendors launching smarter products to garner market share and mindshare. The market has seen traction since the launch of Apple's revolutionary iPad device. The much sleeker tablet allows surfing the net, sharing documents, reading e-books, exchanging emails and nearly all multimedia functions such as listening to music, watching videos, and making calls. In the future, 1 device (essentially mobile phone and/or tablet) will be taking care of all the daily chores. It will act as a credit card for the daily purchases, cash for online bill payment, and a bank for the banking needs.
With the newer and faster technologies coming on the horizon, the access technologies such as screen size becoming smaller, advanced and more efficient, gone are the days when a large sized screen was needed to access the Internet and download favorite entertainment content. Now customers have a plethora of options to choose from that is, mobile phones, tablet PCs, and netbooks, etc, for accessing the worldwide web and their favorite content (mobile entertainment content such as audio, video, etc).
Mobile entertainment services have come a long way with the operators today delivering huge gamut of services such as streaming audio and video, interesting multi-player games, and the hugely popular mobile gambling across high speed 2.5G networks on advanced handsets. According to a Portio Research report estimates, mobile entertainment services (including mobile music, mobile games, and mobile video services) would generate worldwide revenues of $47.2 bn by end of 2013.
Gartner predicts that more than 4.5 bn apps will be downloaded in 2010 across all platforms, generating $6.8 bn of sales. It estimates that this will increase to 21.6 bn downloads and $29.5 bn of revenues by 2013. However, another interesting trend would be that a quarter of these mobile app revenues will come from advertising in free apps, rather than paid downloads.
Leading Indian operators have launched their own version of app stores in the still nascent app market, just like the global telecom majors such as Nokia and Apple. This enables them to gain a small yet significant share of consumer's wallet. However, in India where the propensity to buy depends on the value addition that the app brings, future will see apps being sold as part of bundled package with handsets, and cost recovered by running ads within it. The mobile ad market in India is already estimated at $25 mn and predicted to be in vicinity of $100 mn in the next 2 years.
Now the next question arises that what kind of app will be most popular in the future? The emergence of mobile TV and mobile commerce applications would be seen as the single most important event in the future of telecom industry.
The broadcast industry is undergoing one of biggest transformations in its history. Over the next few years or may be less, the entire television industry will make the transition from analog broadcast to digital services. This will be a major leap ahead for the entire broadcast industry. Slowly and steadily consumers have started streaming shows, news and movies from the web not just to their television sets and laptops, but also to their smartphones and iPads.
Mobile TV will change the paradigms of mobile entertainment. Television will no longer be limited to households, and each individual will carry his own personal entertainment in his pocket. The day is not far when the mobile TV will become ubiquitous and revenues will be earned through personalized ads, thanks to the personal data (even likes, preferences, and needs) of the consumers available with the service provider. In the next couple of years, India will have more than 200 mn mobile TV users primarily because of anywhere, anytime entertainment capability.
The recently announced tablets with phone capabilities and 5 inch and 4.8 inch screen sizes by Dell and Acer, respectively suddenly mark the reappearance of a large enough personal screen to enjoy TV and video content. Given the propensity of Indian innovators to bring down price points on mobile phone advances, the widespread availability of such devices will be possible really soon.
Bandwidth is the other scarce resource in a mobile environment. With the new 3G networks coming up, this problem will be more or less solved. The only question is how soon the operators will deploy the additional spectrum for data services.
Mobile commerce or m-commerce-the conduct of business transactions over the Internet enabled wireless devices-is the other huge trend slowly becoming a dominant force in the business and society. M-commerce is one of the fastest growing mobile applications in recent history. M-commerce has become such a popular concept that a number of sub applications have been developed around the concept such as m-banking, m-trading, m-wallet among many. The enabling feature such as anytime, anywhere banking/payment flexibility, and ease of use have made it one of the most downloaded apps across the world.
Like every enabling technology, m-commerce is also not without issues. Information sharing especially in today's cybercriminal world is fraught with risks. Identity thefts are as common as mobiles today. Personal information such as credit card information location, personal details, and location details can easily be misused. Many countries strictly regulate the collection and use of personal data by business entities and government departments.
There is no doubt that m-commerce is the future of banking and all m-commerce applications have a very promising future. However, there are several limitations an m-commerce user faces. Small screens on wireless devices, limited processing power, modest memory, low speed data transmission, non-ubiquitous coverage, unproven security, and scarce bandwidth are some of them. We know by experience that many of these limitations are expected to diminish, if not being eliminated, over time.
With the upcoming 3G networks bestowed with higher security, higher speeds, higher capacity, and intelligent infrastructures, m-commerce applications will be unqualified success. With improved wireless security and privacy through data encryption and user education, m-commerce will become the most dominant method of doing business transactions.
The future of telecom will be to enable the applications and technologies developed by Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) or Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to vastly improve our standard of living. Telecom will become the springboard to the future creation and expansion for an information society. Telecom will play a huge role in the society and will spur innovation, entrepreneurship, and growth.source
In the recent years, the Indian telecom industry has witnessed phenomenal growth. The last year, in fact, has been one of the most exciting years for the industry with the 3G auctions and MNP being launched. A conducive business environment, favorable policies, and political stability have spurred the growth of this sector (notwithstanding the telecom ministry woes). The number of people using mobile handsets currently to access the web is 5-10 times more than those using a PC. As the telecom revenues continue to grow aggressively, telecom service providers are now beginning to make all endeavors to enhance their profitability amid dropping ARPUs, low tarrifs and cut-throat competition.
The introduction of 3G and WiMax technologies along with Mobile Number Portability (MNP) will be game changers in the Indian market. As per Trai estimates, India will have 19 mn WiMax subscribers by 2012 and nearly half of current mobile users as 3G subscribers. In the near future, we will see powerful devices backed by huge databases of applications helping consumers (individuals/businesses or both) benefit from mobile broadband that will offer mobile computing experiences beyond imagination.
With the launch of 3G services by the private operators, post the successful conclusion of 3G auctions by the government, incumbent operators are spending huge sums of money to get their networks 3G ready. There are going to be exciting times ahead, though it remains to be seen how 3G will impact both enterprises and retail customers when all the service providers initiate 3G services next year. However, one cannot ignore the power of mass entertainment medium that a mobile is soon going to become.
In the 3G age, the services will be provided under 4 core areas of access, video, applications, and gaming. Mobile phones will become a one-stop-shop for your daily needs. It will be used as a gateway to Internet access, passkey for high security commercial transactions, and an entertainment and information keeper. M-commerce, m-banking, m-trading, m-wallet, location based offers and mobile TV, have become the most talked about trends in the industry today. For enterprises, big or small, smarter devices combined with third generation wireless networks and an increased demand for workforce mobility will make business applications more attractive and popular.
The last few months have seen the market for tablet devices warm up with several vendors launching smarter products to garner market share and mindshare. The market has seen traction since the launch of Apple's revolutionary iPad device. The much sleeker tablet allows surfing the net, sharing documents, reading e-books, exchanging emails and nearly all multimedia functions such as listening to music, watching videos, and making calls. In the future, 1 device (essentially mobile phone and/or tablet) will be taking care of all the daily chores. It will act as a credit card for the daily purchases, cash for online bill payment, and a bank for the banking needs.
With the newer and faster technologies coming on the horizon, the access technologies such as screen size becoming smaller, advanced and more efficient, gone are the days when a large sized screen was needed to access the Internet and download favorite entertainment content. Now customers have a plethora of options to choose from that is, mobile phones, tablet PCs, and netbooks, etc, for accessing the worldwide web and their favorite content (mobile entertainment content such as audio, video, etc).
Mobile entertainment services have come a long way with the operators today delivering huge gamut of services such as streaming audio and video, interesting multi-player games, and the hugely popular mobile gambling across high speed 2.5G networks on advanced handsets. According to a Portio Research report estimates, mobile entertainment services (including mobile music, mobile games, and mobile video services) would generate worldwide revenues of $47.2 bn by end of 2013.
Gartner predicts that more than 4.5 bn apps will be downloaded in 2010 across all platforms, generating $6.8 bn of sales. It estimates that this will increase to 21.6 bn downloads and $29.5 bn of revenues by 2013. However, another interesting trend would be that a quarter of these mobile app revenues will come from advertising in free apps, rather than paid downloads.
Leading Indian operators have launched their own version of app stores in the still nascent app market, just like the global telecom majors such as Nokia and Apple. This enables them to gain a small yet significant share of consumer's wallet. However, in India where the propensity to buy depends on the value addition that the app brings, future will see apps being sold as part of bundled package with handsets, and cost recovered by running ads within it. The mobile ad market in India is already estimated at $25 mn and predicted to be in vicinity of $100 mn in the next 2 years.
Now the next question arises that what kind of app will be most popular in the future? The emergence of mobile TV and mobile commerce applications would be seen as the single most important event in the future of telecom industry.
The broadcast industry is undergoing one of biggest transformations in its history. Over the next few years or may be less, the entire television industry will make the transition from analog broadcast to digital services. This will be a major leap ahead for the entire broadcast industry. Slowly and steadily consumers have started streaming shows, news and movies from the web not just to their television sets and laptops, but also to their smartphones and iPads.
Mobile TV will change the paradigms of mobile entertainment. Television will no longer be limited to households, and each individual will carry his own personal entertainment in his pocket. The day is not far when the mobile TV will become ubiquitous and revenues will be earned through personalized ads, thanks to the personal data (even likes, preferences, and needs) of the consumers available with the service provider. In the next couple of years, India will have more than 200 mn mobile TV users primarily because of anywhere, anytime entertainment capability.
The recently announced tablets with phone capabilities and 5 inch and 4.8 inch screen sizes by Dell and Acer, respectively suddenly mark the reappearance of a large enough personal screen to enjoy TV and video content. Given the propensity of Indian innovators to bring down price points on mobile phone advances, the widespread availability of such devices will be possible really soon.
Bandwidth is the other scarce resource in a mobile environment. With the new 3G networks coming up, this problem will be more or less solved. The only question is how soon the operators will deploy the additional spectrum for data services.
Mobile commerce or m-commerce-the conduct of business transactions over the Internet enabled wireless devices-is the other huge trend slowly becoming a dominant force in the business and society. M-commerce is one of the fastest growing mobile applications in recent history. M-commerce has become such a popular concept that a number of sub applications have been developed around the concept such as m-banking, m-trading, m-wallet among many. The enabling feature such as anytime, anywhere banking/payment flexibility, and ease of use have made it one of the most downloaded apps across the world.
Like every enabling technology, m-commerce is also not without issues. Information sharing especially in today's cybercriminal world is fraught with risks. Identity thefts are as common as mobiles today. Personal information such as credit card information location, personal details, and location details can easily be misused. Many countries strictly regulate the collection and use of personal data by business entities and government departments.
There is no doubt that m-commerce is the future of banking and all m-commerce applications have a very promising future. However, there are several limitations an m-commerce user faces. Small screens on wireless devices, limited processing power, modest memory, low speed data transmission, non-ubiquitous coverage, unproven security, and scarce bandwidth are some of them. We know by experience that many of these limitations are expected to diminish, if not being eliminated, over time.
With the upcoming 3G networks bestowed with higher security, higher speeds, higher capacity, and intelligent infrastructures, m-commerce applications will be unqualified success. With improved wireless security and privacy through data encryption and user education, m-commerce will become the most dominant method of doing business transactions.
The future of telecom will be to enable the applications and technologies developed by Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) or Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to vastly improve our standard of living. Telecom will become the springboard to the future creation and expansion for an information society. Telecom will play a huge role in the society and will spur innovation, entrepreneurship, and growth.source
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Telecom Minister kicks off new year with new promises
The government will evolve a new telecom policy which takes care of the interests of the common man, the government and the telecom service providers, and will include a clear regime on contentious issues like spectrum allocation, Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal said Saturday.
"In the ultimate analysis, we want efficient use of spectrum, and optimal use of spectrum. We want revenues to be generated," Sibal told reporters, while unveiling a 100-day agenda of his ministry with regards to all three departments - telecom, post offices and information technology.
"So in the next 100 days, we will hold consultations with key stakeholders to evolve a clear and transparent regime covering licensing, spectrum allocation, tariff, pricing, linkage with rollout performance, flexibility within licences, spectrum sharing, spectrum trading and mergers and acquisitions in a technology-agnostic environment," the minister added.
According to the minister, the revamped policy will usher in an era of transparency in all dealings with regards to precious resources like spectrum.
"The new policy would also take care of use of foreign equipment by telecom service providers while extending services using the third-generation spectrum.
"When we do all this, we will do this in the interest of the aam admi (common man). There are three public interests here - how do we get reasonable revenues for the government, the consumer must get the service at a reasonably low rate, while we keep the industry robust," Sibal said.
The minister also said that all pending security issues with regards to foreign equipment suppliers will be resolved in the next 100 days, which would allow operators "to launch their 3G services in their entire plenitude without delay".
"Security issues regarding telecom equipment procurement, messenger services and subscriber verification will be resolved in the next 100 days," Sibal said.
Sibal said that his ministry would start a dialogue with the department of space, ministry of defence and public sector companies to free up spectrum and make it available for the telecom sector.
"We will also rollout the national frequency plan 2011 in the next 100 days," he said
"In the ultimate analysis, we want efficient use of spectrum, and optimal use of spectrum. We want revenues to be generated," Sibal told reporters, while unveiling a 100-day agenda of his ministry with regards to all three departments - telecom, post offices and information technology.
"So in the next 100 days, we will hold consultations with key stakeholders to evolve a clear and transparent regime covering licensing, spectrum allocation, tariff, pricing, linkage with rollout performance, flexibility within licences, spectrum sharing, spectrum trading and mergers and acquisitions in a technology-agnostic environment," the minister added.
According to the minister, the revamped policy will usher in an era of transparency in all dealings with regards to precious resources like spectrum.
"The new policy would also take care of use of foreign equipment by telecom service providers while extending services using the third-generation spectrum.
"When we do all this, we will do this in the interest of the aam admi (common man). There are three public interests here - how do we get reasonable revenues for the government, the consumer must get the service at a reasonably low rate, while we keep the industry robust," Sibal said.
The minister also said that all pending security issues with regards to foreign equipment suppliers will be resolved in the next 100 days, which would allow operators "to launch their 3G services in their entire plenitude without delay".
"Security issues regarding telecom equipment procurement, messenger services and subscriber verification will be resolved in the next 100 days," Sibal said.
Sibal said that his ministry would start a dialogue with the department of space, ministry of defence and public sector companies to free up spectrum and make it available for the telecom sector.
"We will also rollout the national frequency plan 2011 in the next 100 days," he said
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Welcome to UP - MTS CDMA Services
Sistema Shyam Tele Services Limited today announced the expansion of its services under the MTS brand in UP East and UP West Circles.
Announcing the launch of MTS in UP East and UP West Circles, Sergey Savchenko, Chief Financial Officer, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL) said, “The launch of telephony services by MTS in UP East and UP West has further expanded our national footprint. MTS would now be able to address the telecom needs of over 80% of India’s population and about 92% of the data market potential in the country. This truly represents a very exciting opportunity for MTS.”
This is all set to further add to the company’s customer base, which now stands at over 8 million voice and over 400,000 mobile broadband customers. The Russian Government recently picked up approximately 17% stake in SSTL for $ 600 million US. SSTL has already invested over $2.2 billion US in India. An investment of about Rs. 150 crore has been earmarked for UP East and UP West circles
Announcing the launch of MTS in UP East and UP West Circles, Sergey Savchenko, Chief Financial Officer, Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL) said, “The launch of telephony services by MTS in UP East and UP West has further expanded our national footprint. MTS would now be able to address the telecom needs of over 80% of India’s population and about 92% of the data market potential in the country. This truly represents a very exciting opportunity for MTS.”
This is all set to further add to the company’s customer base, which now stands at over 8 million voice and over 400,000 mobile broadband customers. The Russian Government recently picked up approximately 17% stake in SSTL for $ 600 million US. SSTL has already invested over $2.2 billion US in India. An investment of about Rs. 150 crore has been earmarked for UP East and UP West circles
Five milestones for Indian telecom in 2010
2010 was a most eventful year for telecommunications in India. Although these events have had little impact this year, they are all set to transform the way we use mobile phones. We've counted the five most significant telecom events from the past year.
3G
The first one is obvious. 3G spectrum auctions were finally carried out and operators have started launching services. Tata emerged as the first company to launch 3G and other players that won spectrum are set to follow suit.
In 2011 we will have faster mobile broadband and better value added services. Video - something most of us wanted to, but could not enjoy on the existing network will be much better now.
LTE/WiMax
Another improvement in networks was announced at the auction of BWA spectrum. No operator has launched BWA services yet, and there is no official word on when they are planning to do so. However, it is expected that by the end of the first quarter the first BWA network will be in operation.
True broadband speeds are expected to be available in the country in 2011.
Cheaper smartphones
In 2010, smartphones were much talked about in India. Almost every month there were a couple of smartphones launched by companies such as Nokia, Samsung, HTC, Motorola and LG etc, but these phones were costly and though the segment grew by leaps and bounds, the share of smartphones in the mobile phone market remains low.
By the end of 2010 many Indian brands such as Micromax and Lemon announced smartphones that cost less than Rs 10,000. Even international brands have reduced the price of smartphones to just above Rs 10,000.
This trend is likely to intensify in 2011 - many chip makers have already announced cheap, but powerful chips. Samsung has announced a display technology that is better than the existing IPS panel and is cheaper to produce. Further, more and more Indian brands will enter the market, making it highly competitive.
Google has also announced that it will focus on low cost Android phones to increase the reach of the already popular Android OS.
Tablets
These devices became popular in 2010, but could not make a real impact in India. We already have two tablets available in India launched in the last quarter of 2010 - Samsung Galaxy Tab and Olive Tab from Olive communications, but both these tablets are still in the higher price bracket as they cost at around Rs 30,000.
Apart from price, the biggest hurdle is connectivity. Tablets are essentially mobile devices and to tap their full potential one needs good wireless connectivity, which will be in abundance in 2011 thanks to 3G and LTE services becoming main stream.
On the pricing front the good news is that there are many launches in the offing and with increased competition, prices are expected to go down. Even Indian players have announced plans for tablets, and will push the price further down.
Telecom Yatra has information from reliable sources that Reliance Infocom will bring tablets priced below Rs 8,000 for its LTE customers in India.
Number portability
There are many consumers who are not satisfied with their operator but cannot change their number as it has become their identity. Mobile number portability gives people the freedom to change their operator without changing while retaining their number. For now the service is only available in Haryana, but within a couple of months at least half the country will have 3G. The remaining half will not have to wait much longer either.
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