The Economist: Data Mobile Operators Should Adopt "Smart Pipe" strategy

 

The Economist Intelligence Unit published a white paper, sponsored by Amdocs and titled "Fighting smart: Strategy options for telecoms operators" (here).

See also Amdocs' press release "Amdocs and Economist Intelligence Unit Report: Service Providers Adopt New Strategies to Address the Competitive Climate" - here.

Based on interviews with executive from leading MNOs (Vodafone, 3UK, Turkcell, MTS, Telenor, Telecom Austria and BT), content providers (Skype) vendors (Nokia and Ericosson) and others, the white paper suggests a 5 elements strategy for operators to compensate for the lost voice revenues and the huge investments in building and upgrading data services (with the huge increase in demand).

The report sees Over-The-Top (OTT) services as both threat and opportunity for mobile operators, and suggests operators to adopt the following concepts: 

• Be a "smart Pipe" - partner with OTT content and application providers
   
• Build "efficient pipes" - control the pace of next-generation network deployment
   
• Be A "pricing Pioneer" - create new pricing models that better reflect actual network usage and guard profitability as well as charging content companies for providing a higher-quality service
   
• Defend the realm - partnering with, rather than blocking, innovative Internet companies, even for "core services" such as VoIP (ex. cooperation with 3UK and Skype)
   
• Be a "Transformer" - identify new revenue opportunities in areas such as energy, healthcare and publishing

Such recommendations may not coincide with the Net-Neutrality expected regulations. The paper does not ignore the subject, but to me it seems to play around it - using semantics. So it is not about "discrimination" of content (bad, negative expected to be banned by Net Neutrality) but about prioritizing (good, positive) those content providers that will pay more ("business class" according to DT): 

"Unsurprisingly, this solution is fiercely resisted by the Internet community on the grounds that it contravenes “net neutrality”—the principle that operators should not be allowed to discriminate between different types of content on their networks. Demanding that Google pay for a “best-efforts service” is likely to be unacceptable to many regulators too. But there may be some middle ground. “Many of these new technologies have features we can sell to content providers that want faster or safer access,” says Mr Deprez of Deutsche Telekom. “By ensuring a certain quality of service, we can offer a sort of business-class option.”