Data-based services are going to be a growing source of revenue for mobile operators in future.
This is according to Dobek Pater, Africa Analysis director, who spoke at the ITWeb Mobile Biz 2010 conference, held at Vodaworld in Midrand, last week.
“A lot of mobile operators will move into the direction of becoming an expanded communications service provider rather than just a bandwidth service provider, through strategic alliances,” indicated Pater.
He explained that voice is producing lower margins for mobile operators, and so they are starting to turn to data-based services to drive revenue.
“Demand for mobility is growing; this is driven by the business need to save money; become more efficient; collaborate with partners and market stakeholders; become greener; and the fact that consumer applications are multiplying.”
Pater highlighted that rising deployment of smartphones such as the iPhone is driving higher bandwidth consumption, particularly for mobile applications.
“Applications and content will drive the demand for access bandwidth. The local market trends will see differentiation for bundled offerings, bandwidth intensive applications and alternative broadband infrastructure such as WiMax,” he said.
“Investment by local mobile operators will see a total of R38 billion being invested in network infrastructure over the next four years.”
Pater says this means the mobile data business market segment has grown from R504 million to almost R3 billion within five years.
“The impact on business means there will be downward pressure on data service pricing; an increase in Internet-based services, including cloud computing; cost savings derived from greater competition and a greater choice of applications.”
Pater stressed: “Enterprise mobility will supersede overall market development through earlier adoption of mobile applications by the business community. However, for enterprise mobility to be ubiquitous, mobile broadband networks need to reach a critical mass of use within the business community.”
He added that the African and Middle East regions have some of the highest broadband Internet pricing in the world.
However, Ross Thomasson, Africa regional director for Vodafone Global Enterprise, said: “I'm not convinced that there will ever be 100% ubiquitous Internet connectivity across Africa.”
He blamed the lack of ubiquitous Internet on the challenge of broadband infrastructure. However, he noted most people in Africa have their first interaction with the Internet through their mobile phone and that mobility has become a key part of many business strategies.
According to Thomasson, critical success factors that are driving the movement to mobility is reduced cost; improved workforce productivity; developing real-time engagement with customers and partners; and driving business transformation.
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