Following my post Are OTT The New Walled Gardens? The organizers of the VoLTE 2011 conference in Paris invited me to speak about this topic in the conference and participate in a panel titled: “IMS: Why Operators Need it for Voice Service in LTE and How Can They Implement it?”
The conference spans different aspects of VoLTE, from the network to value added services. It brings together speakers and delegates from different segments including service providers such as Deutsche Telecom and vendors such as Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Acme Packet. More about the sessions can be found on the agenda.
What will my session focus on?
In my session I will be talking about the coopetition of OTT service providers and “traditional” service providers. OTT is a threat to the incumbent service providers. In the eyes of the service providers, OTT are those that:
- Take their revenue while using their network
- Take away the control they used to have over the user
- Highlight their brand instead of the service providers’ brand
But in the eyes of the end user OTTs are:
- Providing innovative services
- Offering competitive business models, mainly freemium
- Are cool [I can’t put a logical claim behind this but why would someone who practically has an unlimited voice or SMS plan use an OTT service such as Viber or WhatsApp?]
We see cases where service providers team-up with OTTs and officially launch an OTT service over their network. This happens in cases where the service provider is pushed against the wall by a competing service. A good example is the launch of FaceTime by Apple. This has caused service providers to launch an OTT video chat service such as Qik (later acquired by Skype) over their network.
Having said that, the introduction of OTT video service by the service provider is a pain reliever for their pressing problem of customer retention and need for innovative services. Yet, as for voice and SMS where the service provider will always want to maintain these core services under his control, also for video chat, as it becomes popular, the service provider will want to be in control and the one providing the service.
Questions I will address in my presentation include:
- Will the Service Providers become just Network Providers?
- What assets do they hold that will allow them to make the user chose their service vs. a free OTT service?
- What are the differentiators the service provider will be able to offer to the end user to regain their loyalty?
- What are the main drawbacks of OTT services (hint: the title of my presentation)?
We have a discount for you
Want to hear more? Interested in coming to the conference?
We managed to get a special 20% discount for the readers of our Blogs. To claim it, follow this link to RADVISION Blog readers discounted VoLTE 2011 registration page and use the password: azspevolte.
Note: We are not receiving any special benefits from the organizers based on registrations done on this promotional registration discount. We simply want our readers to come and enjoy the conference and if you are planning on coming please drop me a note so we will have a chance to meet.
