Mobile operators need to evolve in 2012

Mobile operators will be forced to up the ante on innovative business models if they are to survive, warns vendor Ericsson.

The year ahead

Delivering its predictions for the year ahead and beyond, Ericsson predicts that maturing markets and heightened competition between mobile broadband operators will force them to dramatically shift business models.

Borrowing from innovative business models working in the financial services and airline industries, are set to follow in the year ahead particularly those involving loyalty, user profiles and preferences and customisation, Ericsson predicts.

Operators will as well have to take a leadership role in monetising rising innovation trends just as mobile money, Nearly Field Communications and cloud based services.

The area of applications

In the area of applications, 2012 will see LTE operators offer smartphones offering VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) powered services, VoLTE, allowing calls to be moved between platforms - from PC to mobile to fixed phone.

LTE will as well emerge as a legitimate alternative to propriety communications technologies and solutions for industries just as utilities and public safety, the vendor predicts.

Investment in LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) networks will emerge from these utility sectors, either by building private networks or network sharing relationships with mobile operators.

Meanwhile the march of the smartphone in Australia will continue to escalate. Ericsson forecasts that smartphone users will outnumber feature phone users for the first time in 2012.

Worldwide tablet momentum will show no signs of slowing, with the number of tablet subscriptions expected to grow 10 times in the straightway five years. Growth in tablets and smart phones will put pressure on networks to provide high performance to meet device capabilities. ®