A growing number of telcos are tackling the challenge from over-the-top (OTT) players by launching their own OTT services, research firm Disruptive Analysis claims.
The analyst house states there are at least 80 OTT-style web services currently available from telcos, covering content, communications, cloud and connectivity. It predicts the trend will accelerate rapidly over the next five years as carriers use OTT to expand into markets where they have no network footprint, and seek out new revenue streams.
Disruptive Analysis founder Dean Bubley says operators must seize the initiative and go on the attack to win the OTT battle. “They must exploit the scale and ‘viral’ adoption of new services by billions of Internet and smartphone users, using similar tactics to the familiar web- or VoIP-type providers.”
Using OTT opens the door to a potential user base of a billion people, the firm claims, and will boost telco’s customer experience by enabling them to provide services while subscribers are off-net.
“It is no longer enough to rely on slow-moving standards or cumbersome collaborations. Telcos need to act alone, or with specialist technology partners,” Bubley adds.