Juniper Research: OTT Voice to See Significant Revenue Rise (5X by 2020)

TelecomLead reports that "OTT voice providers are expected to generate more than $10 billion in service revenues by 2020, representing a 5-fold increase over the next 5 years. Juniper Research said OTT application providers such as Skype and WhatsApp would experience a significant rise in traffic and revenue potential as 4G network roll-outs accelerate, increasing their capability to offer VoIP (voice over IP) calls.

As most mVoIP services were offered as a free or low cost service, a small minority of OTT players had generated a significant revenues from the service.

Because of sharp decline in voice revenues as a result of OTT voice activity, traditional operators have adopted new business models by offering functionality such as VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and Wi-Fi calling through the mobile handset"

See "OTT voice providers to generate $10 bn revenues by 2020" - here.

Vodafone India: "We are Pro-Net Neutrality"; Waiting for the Rules

 
Pankaj Doval, reports to The Times of India that "Vodafone, India's second-biggest mobile operator [see chart below for March 2015 data], has refused to follow Bharti Airtel in launching a zero-rating platform [see "Airtel: The Internet, with Our Airtel Zero, is Neutral" - here] , the decision coming at a time when telecom regulator Trai and the Department of Telecom (DoT) are looking into the entire gamut of issues related to net neutrality.

Sunil Sood, [pictured] , CEO, Vodafone India said: "We are waiting for the rules .. Vodafone is a supporter of net neutrality and does not believe in "blocking" or "throttling" the internet .. We are pro-net neutrality... we do not block the internet or direct the internet." 

Asked to comment on the criticism of Airtel Zero plan, he said, "I believe it's a trivial matter. It was just a price plan .. applications offering voice communication facility — such as Skype, WhatsApp and Viber — should follow the same regulations as mobile operators"  [see "Indian MNOs to Surcharge VoIP Traffic" - here and "Airtel wont Surcharge VoIP; TRAI: "not in accordance with net neutrality, it was not illegal" - here].

See "Vodafone won’t toe zero-rating plan of Airtel" - here.

[Analysys Mason]: Will OTT VoIP Replicate the Success of OTT Messaging?

A new report by Patrick Rusby, analyst and Stephen Sale [pictured], Principal Analyst, Analysys Mason finds that "VoIP apps will probably not replicate the success of OTT messaging apps because the use case for OTT voice services is less clear"

Other findings:

Kik App

• "Penetration of OTT messaging (IP or social messaging), voice and video calling services varies significantly by country OTT messaging was the most commonly adopted category of OTT service, because it offers an improved user experience compared with SMS, at zero or minimal cost 

• Penetration of VoIP on mobile handsets remains relatively low in Europe and the USA. In contrast to messaging, VoIP apps have not been able to offer a significantly differentiated user experience or price advantage for domestic calling
   
• In Europe and the USA, Facebook Messenger, Skype and WhatsApp Messenger, the three dominant apps, were each used by over 30% of OTT messaging users in these regions. The market is characterised by a long tail of niche apps that appeal to specific groups, often based on age, and often within a specific country – for example, Kik in the USA and Snapchat in the UK". 

See "The Connected Consumer Survey 2015: OTT communication services"- here.

Airtel: "current VoIP model is not sustainable"

The story of Airtel (and other Indian MNOs) plan to surcharge VoIP services (see "Indian MNOs to Surcharge VoIP Traffic" - here) develops in two directions, as reported by FirstPost: 

• As happened in other countries after such intention had been stated (Singapore, Netherlands), the Indian regulator "will look into Airtel’s plan to charge separately for Internet call services (VoIP) offered by apps like Skype, Viber and Line that will cost up to Rs. 10,000 per GB on 2G network and up to Rs. 4,000 per GB on 3G network to a user .. 'We will look into it. Government will come back with structured response,” Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad  [pictured]said on the sidelines of ‘Good Governance Day’ event organised by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology"
  
  See "Govt to look into Airtel’s plan to charge more for VoIP calls: Ravi Shankar Prasad" - here.

• And Airtel insists - "Airtel has gone ahead and announced its VoIP data pack. The VoIP pack will cost prepaid Airtel customers Rs 75 for 75MB of data over a 28-day period ..According to the statement, Airtel claims that the current VoIP model is not sustainable in its current form hence the need for an additional data pack. “Our voice services that are enjoyed by every one of our customers provides us the capacity to continuously invest in and upgrade our networks on an ongoing basis. We, therefore, believe that VoIP services in their current form are not tenable for us as a business. As a result we will charge separately for VoIP services,” says the statement".
  
  See "Airtel wants users to pay more for Internet calls: A look at its new VoIP data packs" - here.

[Research]: VoLTE is Better than OTT VoIP

Mobile networks vendors continue to claim that their built-in VoIP (VoLTE) beats OTT's VoIP in all aspects - efficiency,performance and quality.

We saw internal research from Nokia - see "NSN: VoLTE Beats OTT VoIP 4:0 !" - here and "Nokia: VoLTE is Doing Better than OTT's VoIP Under Load" - here.

Alcatel-Lucent joins the trend and announces "the results of an independent research study [Signals Research Group, here] which found that its commercially deployed Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) technology provides better service than 3G Circuit Switched (CS) voice and Internet calling services and Skype software. The analysis found that VoLTE users enjoyed considerably better call quality, faster connectivity and substantially less drain on the batteries of their mobile devices"

• VoLTE call quality greatly exceeded that of 3G CS voice and was measurable higher than the HD voice service offered by Skype
   
• With network loading, and in particular with background applications running on the mobile phone and transferring data with the network, the VoLTE results were considerably better than Skype
   
• VoLTE call setup time was nearly twice as fast as 3G Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB) call setup
   
• VoLTE used substantially fewer network resources than Skype voice, which in turn resulted in longer estimated device battery life for the subscriber and a more efficient network for the operator
   
• When leaving LTE coverage, VoLTE calls were successfully handed over to 3G CS voice. The network’s enhanced Single Radio Voice Call Continuity ensures calls continue without interruption

See "Signals Research Group study shows commercially deployed VoLTE service better than 3G and Internet calling services such as Skype™" - here.

[Guest Post]: Optimizing cell architecture for better enterprise service delivery

By Shaun McFall*, Senior VP and Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Aviat Networks 

From its early analog origins in the 80s, some of the earliest adopters of mobile telephony were business users. Enterprises were quick to identify the opportunity that “portable telephones” offered. The shackles that rotary dials and fixed landlines placed on business were no more. The enterprise could now conduct business and make deals anytime anywhere. That’s why one of the most iconic images of the 80s remains Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) with a Motorola DynaTAC-brick-phone.

Over the years, as technology evolved and mobile phones became cheaper, mobile users diversified. A recent report from the International Telecommunications Union estimated that there could be more than six billion mobile phones globally. However, as subscriber figures have grown, the revenues for mobile operators have flattened and in some cases decreased. 

 

One reason for this has been the growing popularity among consumers for Over The Top (OTT) services such as WhatsApp and Skype. OTT services allow subscribers to circumvent the mobile operator and use alternative messaging, voice and video calling services. OTT is eroding voice and text revenues – so much so that Ovum estimates that WhatsApp has cost mobile operators around $35bn in lost text messaging revenues. 

 

While consumers have embraced OTT services and have been willing to put up with its unreliable connectivity, patchy sound quality and video delays - the majority of enterprises have shied away from using OTT communications services for their day-to-day business needs. That’s because businesses need robust, effective and reliable communications. Therefore, the enterprise market remains the most promising and lucrative for mobile network operators. In fact, US and Western European markets alone could be worth more than $100bn. And herein lies the challenge facing mobile network operators. 

 

While the enterprise market is the most profitable segment, it is the most elusive for mobile network operators. Most operators are acutely aware of the need to win enterprises over, but how to address it without resorting to discounting is not always clear. 

 

Mobile operators are inherently well positioned to deliver enterprise services. A multi-service IP network combined with high-capacity wireless connectivity solutions in 3G/4G or microwave, and mobility services which can be bundled with other capabilities, puts MNOs in a unique position. By looking beyond margin-eroding discounts and looking at how they could instead provide additional value, the enterprise market could be far easier to win over. But how can a mobile operator deliver these fixed communications services to enterprises most effectively?

 

This is where a new class of communications product comes to the fore: the microwave router. Situated at the cell site, the microwave router incorporates microwave connectivity and a built-in IP/MPLS router, thereby delivering a complete enterprise access and VPN solution straight from the existing mobile backhaul infrastructure – all in a single device. Not only does the microwave router deal with the growing problem of network densification by combining the functionality of up to five separate devices, it also opens up the enterprise opportunity to mobile operators. This is because, with its access to Layer 3 at the edge of the network, new access services like VPNs become easy to launch and maintain. By putting more intelligence into the cell site, operators can deliver a whole range of enterprise-focused services. That means more access services as well as better support of high-bandwidth enterprise applications.

 

A recent study from analyst firm Heavy Reading surveyed a number of international mobile network operators to gauge their appetite for microwave routers. It found that 76% of operators they surveyed declared that they are ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to deploy a microwave router within three years. That is that a remarkably positive consensus for such a recent innovation. Mobile operators are aware that enterprises offer the most lucrative opportunity for short and long-term revenue streams, but have consistently found it challenging. And now, a small, smart microwave router could be a big part of the answer.

_________

*As senior vice president and chief marketing and strategy officer, Mr. McFall provides overall direction for programs to position the company in its focus markets. Mr. McFall has been with the company since the formation of its UK subsidiary in 1989. His initial assignment was in new business development, first in the UK and later the European market. In 1994 he relocated to the company's headquarters in San Jose, California, assuming responsibility for worldwide product marketing. He has accumulated over 20 years of experience in the wireless telecommunications industry, holding prior positions with two UK based companies: Ferranti International Signal plc. and GEC Telecommunications Ltd. Mr. McFall holds a bachelor of science degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, UK.

Singapore Takes an Extreme Net Neutrality Regulation

History repeats itself. In 2011, KPN tried to surcharge OTT services, and the result was that The Netherlands adopted a Net Neutrality law (see "Nice try, KPN - Netherlands First European Country to Adopt Net Neutrality" - here).

Last week, during her presentation at MWC, Sock Koong Chua [pictured], CEO, Singtel said she "urged regulators to give carriers like Optus the right to charge rivals such as WhatsApp and Skype for use of their networks or risk a major decline in network investment" (report by David Ramli, to Financial Review, here).

And the result? A very strict Net Neutrality regulation.

Mobile World Live reports that "Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), Singapore’s regulator, has said the country’s mobile operators will not be allowed to block or charge a fee to subscribers who access OTT services .. ISPs are not allowed to block legitimate internet content; neither should they impose restrictions, charges or other measures that will render any legitimate internet content effectively inaccessible or unusable.”

In addition, it said ISPs are not allowed to adopt traffic management practices that will compromise QoS standards or any anti-competitive discriminatory practice what would hurt consumers".

See "Singapore’s regulator warns operators on OTT charges" - here.

NSN: How can MNOs Deal w/OTT Resource Consumption and Lost Revenues?

A post by Andrew Burell [pictured], Nokia Solutions and Networks, to the company blog says that "OTT is certainly not a lost cause to MNOs".

" .. [MNOs] see OTT applications such as Skype, WhatsApp and NetFlix piggy-backing on their network investments, clogging up resources and stealing their revenues. The figures themselves are certainly frightening. Every day 2,371 new applications are born, and a single ‘rogue’ app can generate 2,422 signaling messages per hour. By 2017, there will be 32 trillion messages sent by OTT messaging applications, and by 2020, operators stand to lose a cumulative total of $479 billion to OTT players.

.. With the right tariff structure for data-services in place, there are a number of different strategies that operators can successfully adopt to turn threat into opportunity. For example:

• Partnering with OTTs: ‘3’ offers subscribers a ‘Roaming Pass’ that allows them to use Whatsapp abroad with an inclusive data allowance
   
• Operators can launch proprietary services of their own: Verizon has followed this approach with its ‘Viewdini’ service – a mobile video aggregation portal that delivers mobile content from Netflix, Hulu and others.
   
• .. [NSN] Smart Labs and NPO (Network Planning and Optimization) expertise with performance proof points such as:
    
• Smart Labs research has shown that activation of WCDMA software suite features like Fast Dormancy Profiling can reduce signaling loads by 40%  [see "NSN: New Radio Software Reduces WCDMA Network Signaling" - here]
   
• Our NPO video optimization service was able to reduce content buffering by 30% for a major European operator

See "OTT – Horror movie or romantic comedy?" - here.

[TeleGeography]: Skype’s International Traffic Continues to Soar

TeleGeography reports that "According to new data .. Skype’s international traffic volume continues to soar ..  Skype’s on-net (Skype to Skype) international traffic grew 36 percent in 2013, to 214 billion minutes .. While the volume of international telephone traffic remains far larger than international Skype traffic, Skype’s minutes are growing much more rapidly. Skype added approximately 54 billion minutes of international traffic in 2013, 50 percent more than the combined international volume growth of every telco in the world. Given these immense traffic volumes, it’s difficult not to conclude that at least some of Skype’s growth is coming at the expense of traditional carriers.

Such strong traffic growth more than 10 years after Skype’s launch is particularly impressive in light of the growing acceptance of a wide range of alternative over-the-top (OTT) communications applications for mobile devices. OTT messaging applications are among the most popular mobile apps, and several, including Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Line, Tango, Google Hangouts, and Samsung’s ChatOn, have been installed more than 100 million times from Google’s online Play app store, alone".

See "Skype traffic continues to thrive" - here.

[Infonetics] 1B OTT mVoIP Subscribers (Skype- 40%); ARPU Down to $7.13 Annually

Last year Infonetics estimated that the annual ARPU for mobile VoIP user was $13 [here]. 2012, saw a huge decrease.

A new report by Infonetics Research Principle Analysts Diane Myers [pictured] and Stéphane Téral, finds that "While Skype dominates the over-the-top mobile VoIP space, the market is seeing other applications such as Fring, KakaoTalk, Line, Nimbuzz, WeChat and Viber gain in strength. But the fact remains that most OTT mVoIP providers are making very little money per user. In 2012, the average revenue per user was a meager US$7.13 annually. Since this alone is an unsustainable business model, most providers are turning to advertising, third-party apps and wholesale arrangements with traditional operators”

"The number of global OTT mobile VoIP subscribers shot up more than 550% in 2012, to over 640 million, and is expected to approach the 1 billion mark in 2013. Microsoft/Skype had roughly 40% of all active users of OTT mobile VoIP services in 2012"

"Infonetics projects the number of VoLTE subscribers to grow at a 145% compound annual growth rate from 2012 to 2017 Combined, over-the-top mobile VoIP and VoLTE services are expected to become a $16 billion business by 2017"

See "Infonetics Research raises VoLTE forecast; Over-the-top mobile VoIP subscribers nearing 1 billion mark" - here.

Skype: 2B Minutes .. a Day!

Wonder why we have seen so many operators trying to fight OTT voice and messaging (Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Korea, China) ?

According to a post by Elisa Steele to Skype's blog - ".. we are excited to celebrate that our Skype users – YOU – are spending more than 2 billion minutes connecting with each other! 2 BILLION MINUTES! .. 2 billion minutes is a testament to our users who are making Skype the everyday communications hub that brings people together".

Well, not all these minutes would have been translated into revenue minutes by network operators, but according to a recent research by TeleGeography  "While international phone traffic growth is slowing, traffic from voice and messaging applications like Skype continues to increase at a stunning pace. TeleGeography estimates that cross-border Skype-to-Skype voice and video traffic grew 44% in 2012, to 167 billion minutes. This increase of nearly 51 billion minutes is more than twice that achieved by all international carriers in the world, combined."
 

See "Thanks for Making Skype a Part of Your Daily Lives – 2 Billion Minutes a Day!" - here and "The bell tolls for telcos?" - here.

Saudi Arabia may Block OTT Voice and Messaging

 
Mohammed Jamjoom reports to CNN (see video below) that "Saudi Arabia may block access to popular Internet messaging applications like Skype, Viber and WhatsApp if telecommunication providers there don't comply with rules and regulatory conditions, according to the country's official news agency, SPA .. the statement did not address how the applications in question -- which allow Internet users to communicate with each other via text messages and voice calls -- were violating any rules, but it did highlight the need for service providers in the country to quickly "work with the developers of these applications to meet regulatory requirements".

According to the local regulator, CITC, Saudi Arabia had 53.1M mobile subscribers of which 11.7M had mobile broadband and 2.25M fixed broadband internet subscribers at the end of Q3, 2012.

See "Saudi Arabia may block Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, others" - here.

[Rumors]: Orange France to Use DPI for Differentiated Services

While Bouygues Telecom is sending false invoices (see "Phone company to woman: You owe us $15 quadrillion" - here), Orange France is rumored to take a different approach to increase revenues.

French web sites, based on discovery by La Lettre A, report that Orange (France Telecom) is preparing to launch application-based differentiated service plans for its DSL service.

They speculate that Orange will offer cheaper plans for simple web browsing and a more expensive one for application such as Youtube and Skype (i.e. OTT competitive services). For that, they say, Orange will need to deploy DPI. 

Orange spokesperson denied any intention, in the shorter or longer term, to offer differentiated services using DPI.

See "FT dans le deep packet inspection" - here and "Fin de l’Internet illimité : ça se précise chez Orange, qui dément" - here.

[Analysys Mason]: 45% Use OTT Messaging but 97% Still Use SMS

Are OTT voice and messaging services a real threat to mobile carriers? Depends how you read the following report from Analysys Mason.

The report (based on data derived from Arbitron Mobile’s passive on-device monitoring app, which monitored more than 1000 smartphone users (‘panellists’) in France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the USA) by Stephen Sale (pictured) and Martin Scott finds that: 

• "More than 45% of customers with a smartphone use some form of instant messaging (IM) or over-the-top (OTT) messaging app in addition to (and in some cases instead of) traditional text messaging (SMS) .. In addition, 20% of consumers use a VoIP app, and 20% of those consumers use it more than traditional voice services".
   
• "The report shows that WhatsApp Messenger is the first large-scale cross-platform messaging app; nearly 20% of the panellists used it during the two-month observation period. However, OTT communication apps have succeeded in replacing operator services in only a small proportion of cases; only 1.7% of the panel used IM/OTT messaging without using SMS, but 97% of panellists used SMS".
   
• “Skype continues to dominate the VoIP market; 79% of VoIP users on the panel used the service (16% of all panellists), making it the default VoIP provider. The main challengers to Skype are Viber, fring and Google Talk, as used by 5%, 0.8% and 0.6% of panellists respectively .. Alarmingly for operators, some smartphone users are beginning to use VoIP apps as their primary voice service; approximately 20% of VoIP users (or 4% of the panellists) used mobile VoIP more than traditional voice services".

See "Almost half of consumers with smartphones use instant or over-the-top messaging services and one in five use voip apps, reports Analysys Mason" - here.

[ABI]:VoLTE will Help MNOs Fight OTT Voice and Messaging

A new report by Marina Lu, research associate and Jake Saunders (pictured), vice-president for forecasting, ABI Research concludes that "​Mobile operators are increasingly coming under pressure to improve mobile telecom service profit margins as well as bring in new services to counter the competition from Over the Top (OTT) services such as Skype, Viber, Whatsapp, and FaceTime [see "AT&T will Block Facetime/3G to non Shared Data Plan Customers" - here]".

"In 2Q 2012, minutes of use showed the greatest declines compared to 2011 in Asia-Pacific (-7.36%), Africa (-6.3%), Western Europe (-2.32%), and North America (-2.12%) .. “Messages Sent” is keeping stable in Q2 2012 compared to last quarter .. mobile data traffic continues its rapid increase with 13.4 Exabytes to be consumed through 2012".

"Mobile operators have had limited options with 3G but 4G LTE should give the mobile operators some new tools .. LTE does not just transform the delivery of broadband data, it also can enrich voice services. SK Telecom, Korea’s largest operator, launched out the world’s first VoLTE services on 8 August, 2012. More recently, LG U+ in South Korea and MetroPCS Communications in the US [see "MetroPCS will Use Amdocs for VoLTE QoS" - here] have also introduced Voice over LTE".

“For voice communications, VoLTE enables rich media content to be overlaid over voice, while the packetized delivery of the voice data allows for greater cost of service savings”.

See "Carriers Relying on Voice over LTE Services to Improve Margins as Traditional Minutes of Use Decline" - here.

[iPass] 43% of Mobile Workers Experienced Bill Shock; Prefer Wi-Fi Over 3G

iPass published its quarterly Mobile Workforce Report which ".. shows that 43 percent of mobile workers reported they had experienced an expensive data roaming bill in the past year and on average encountered a high data roaming bill 1.4 times a year. The average cost of their monthly data roaming bill shock was $1,089. A greater number of mobile workers are taking a stance on data roaming rates as 81 percent of mobile workers state that data roaming prices are too high and 23 percent of mobile workers said they always turn off data roaming when they travel".

"Though mobile workers are rarely without their cellular-connected mobile devices, they overwhelmingly prefer Wi-Fi for common applications. Eighty percent of mobile workers prefer to use Wi-Fi for mobile application use and Wi-Fi was even favored for making international phone calls, which has long been a profit center for traditional telecom service providers. Perhaps the efforts by Skype, Tango, Vonage and others to popularize Wi-Fi calling apps have paid off".

"Data roaming charges are keeping some mobile workers from using applications related to productivity, such as 

email, web browsing and mapping/location services. Employees are less concerned about access to entertainment oriented 

apps like Facebook and audio streaming when data roaming"

" .. 80 percent of mobile workers stated $1-2 per megabyte (MB) to be a reasonable price for mobile/cellular data roaming .. Security is being further compromised with 48 percent of mobile workers admitting to bypassing IT restrictions to enable them to access corporate data".

See "Mobile Workers Report Average Monthly Data Roaming Bill Shock of $1,089 Globally, According to New Data from iPass" - here.

OTT and MNOs: $182B Lost or $30B Opportunity?

Both, actually.

A new research by MobileSquared, sponsored by mobile interaction service provider, tyntec, finds that "‘Over The Top’ mobile internet communications services such as Skype and WhatsApp are set to cost the global mobile industry as much as $182 billion in lost voice and messaging revenue over the next four years .. Yet the research also identifies a potential $30 billion revenue opportunity for operators who work effectively in the OTT market".

See also "[ABI Research]: OTT Messaging Cannibalizes SMS Revenue" - here and "[Infonetics]: Despite All - SMS Revenues will Grow!"- here.

".. The research forecasts that the OTT market will be worth as much as $166.5 billion by 2016, with as many as 18% of subscribers using OTT services by 2016, up from just 2% at the moment .. The research quantifies the potential opportunities for operators in the OTT market, which is set to reach 1.32 billion users by 2016. There are a range of strategies that could help operators benefit from the growth of OTT. As well as charging users additional fees for using OTT, operators can create their own apps or deploy RCSe/Joyn-based initiatives to recreate the functionality of OTT within their own networks. However, the key opportunity for operators is to partner with OTT providers to integrate mobile numbers into their services".
  

See "Report: OTT Messaging Services to Create $30B Revenue Opportunity for Mobile Operators" - here. 

NSN: MNOs/OTT Partnership Model - Quality for Revenue Share

A post by Carlijn Adema (picture), Nokia Siemens Networks’ Services team, discusses NSN's favorite subject - signaling / chatty applications / keep-alive messages problem and suggests to MNOs how to share revenues with OTT providers, in return for higher quality VoIP.

".. Recent results from a Nokia Siemens Networks Smart Labs study showed that mobile online poker can generate up to 4,000 extra signals per smartphone. When an app like this takes off, radio resources can be impacted, causing congestion and potential quality issues .. Nokia Siemens Networks can analyze these patterns and improve the network performance for smartphone users, helping to extend smartphone battery life and enhance the user experience. But there is even more…". See also "[NSN]: Chatty Android Phones should Move on to Network Controlled Fast Dormancy" - here.
  

Apple's FaceTime

"..Nokia Siemens Networks’ latest innovation in data service optimization is the optimization of VoIP services. Why? Voice still has a major stake in operator revenue, but VoIP solutions such as Skype and FaceTime are gaining popularity and putting operator voice revenue under pressure. With VoIP optimization, LTE operators can offer their own VoIP service. If operators consider other options, they can keep voice in GSM and 3G technologies but this will cut spectrum management flexibility whilst new ‘over the top’ (OTT) VoIP providers take advantage of their 4G data plans. In this case operators can decide to partner with an OTT provider, and offer quality through VoIP optimization, in exchange of a revenue share".

See also "[Infonetics]: Global OTT mVoIP Subscribers more than Doubled in 2011"- here and "European ISPs Suggest New Internet Business Models" - here.

See "Mobile operators: Are your mobile data services on a slippery slope?" - here.

AT&T CEO on FaceTime Surcharge and Toll-free Data; Launched Shared Data plans

   

Anthony Ha reports to Techcrunch on AT&T's CEO, Randall Stephenson (pictured) response to the recent news about charging extra for Apple's FaceTime service over cellular and 1-800 Data service (here and here).

So - will AT&T follows the South Koeran MNOs ("Korea's Net No-Neutrality: MNOs may Surcharge for OTT VoIP and Messaging" - here) ?

According to the article, Stephenson "didn’t rule the charge out" for FaceTime, and said that "I’ve heard the same rumor .. for now, AT&T is focused on working with Apple to get the technology stabilized, so it’s too early to talk about pricing”.

A post by Dan Deeth to Sandvine's blog "FaceTime Facts and Figures" (here) compares Skype and FaceTime traffic (as seen over mobile and fixed networks in North America, yet FaceTime does not support 3G directly yet) and shows that "Skype is the undisputed video call leader, consuming over 50 times the bandwidth of FaceTime on fixed access networks"

As for 1-800 data ("where app developers pay for their users’ data usage") Stephenson "acknowledged that this is something people get “emotional” about .. but he compared it to toll-free, 1-800 phone numbers. Just as it helps Sears to pay the bill for calls from its customers, there are mobile companies that have “business models premised on traffic,” so why not pay to remove any barriers to that traffic? In fact, Stephenson claimed this is something that some of the content providers are asking AT&T for".

See "Will AT&T Charge For 3G FaceTime? CEO Randall Stephenson Says It’s ‘Too Early’ To Know" - here.

AT&T also launched shared data plans (1-20GB, here) - "With new AT&T Mobile Share plans, available in late August, new and existing customers can share a single bucket of data across smartphones, tablets, and other compatible devices, plus get unlimited talk and text. AT&T Mobile Share plans make it easy for customers to manage their data, voice minutes and texting, without needing to keep track of multiple plans".

Telstra Deploys PCC and DPI to Monetize OTT

While many large carriers (KT, Telenor, DT, TeliaSonera) talk bluntly about charging OTT players or users for delivering the voice/video/messaging or other services, or competing with OTTs (SK Telecom), Telstra is taking a more peaceful approach of non-competing, but asks for the very same thing - pay us!

Dr Hugh Bradlow (pictured), CTO at Telstra said in an interview to Mobile World L!ive that he "believes mobile operators should stop attempting to compete with nimble Over-The-Top (OTT) players and instead focus on working with them to the benefit of all"
  
" .. I think there are two ways in which we deal with Over-The-Top players .. One, we look at ways in which we can help them deliver their services better; obviously we expect them to pay for the additional value we deliver. And the other way is we help our consumer customers to actually utilise that service and have someone to call when things go wrong and to turn it on for them when they need to use it .. the likes of Skype, Google and Facebook will also see the benefits of working with the operator community"

"we have to put in place various mechanisms - policy control, on line charging systems, Quality of Service, Deep Packet inspection - whole lot of infrastructure components which are new and challenging, because they are scalability issues around them and integration issues - then it is expensive and difficult to do .. we are working on it as we speak"
    

 ".. Some operators have tried to block it and of course that’s led to a whole series of net neutrality debates. But a lot of operators now have taken a view that we are, which is looking at ways to add value to both the consumer customer and to the Over-The-Top player as a way of getting improved outcomes for all of us"

See "Telstra CTO: Operators must embrace OTT opportunity" - here and video interview here. See also "Telstra CTO: "One of the key issues going forward is the notion of Quality of Service" - here.