| Leadership Blog -
Scarcely a day goes by without a new headline that announces the demise of the communications industry, which will be reduced to a few survivors who have the dreaded ‘bit pipe’ status. Some of the latest news relates to the fact that mobile operators will soon succumb to the upcoming data tsunami that must be managed to maintain quality of service, or the recently announced iMessage from Apple, which will make SMS obsolete, at a time where growth in the volume of text messaging is already... -
Continental Airlines is always my first choice when booking travel. I like their OnePass loyalty program, which offers three tiers: Silver, Gold and Platinum. As a Silver member, I love the fact that I get complimentary upgrades, priority check-in, boarding and baggage handling, as well as speedier security screening. It makes me feel important and that I'm cared about, making the overall experience a more pleasant one. For now, Continental has served my specific needs. But I don't get the... -
Last year, I wrote an article about the upcoming explosion of the 'not so smart' smartphone business. The iPhone and iPad hype would not last for too long, I stated (that is, a strategy restricted to only high-end smart devices). As a matter of fact, it's kind of over already. The new players, characterized by a more flexible business outlook, are already 'following the money' by addressing the middle-class and ethnic minorities. Or in marketing terms, they are simply being more... -
We are used to discussing revenue opportunities for mobile service providers in terms of either high-income users (early adopters of smart devices and high ARPU data plans), or low-income users (who are often seen as consumers of prepaid, low-ARPU mobile packages). But what about the fast growing mid-tier segment? "People are buying refrigerators and television sets on credit in the slums of Sao Paulo. Three million Chinese now ski in a country that didn't offer the sport 15 years ago. Evidence... -
Communication service providers (CSPs) have long talked about achieving better "business synergy" through greater cross-departmental coordination and sharing of data. Unfortunately "synergy" never seems to get a high enough priority. Historically, different departments in a CSP—finance, billing, marketing, network engineering—have built or bought their own systems, with little thought as to how to share data and make it truly useful across the organization. However... -
As competition and the economic crunch pit themselves against communications service providers (CSPs), it's getting harder and harder for them to maintain profitability, so the search is on for ways of exploiting underused assets. Take customers for example – CSPs have them by the billions, yet they often know almost nothing about them other than an address or a phone number in the eyes of many providers. But knowing your customer and exploiting what you actually have if you look for it... -
To paraphrase Bill Clinton during the 1992 presidential campaign, "it's the content, stupid" will probably be the mantra for the telecom and cable industries in 2011. We can keep talking about pipes and gadgets, but eventually the conversation will not get us very far. Sooner or later, the dialogue will exhaust itself, and we'll discover that the most important revolution cannot be just about gadgets and pipes, but rather the content that is sent over and through them. I'm not... -
Verizon finally made it official, announcing the availability of its LTE network beginning next Sunday, December 5th. Pricing will start at $50 for 5 GB monthly allowance, with access offered to USB modem users. Smartphones will not follow until mid-2011. 38 metro areas and 60 airports will be covered initially. Not only is the expected data rate (2-5 up and 5-12 down) comparable to landline speeds, I expect the range of services and devices offered will gradually expand the application areas beyond now-traditional 3G application areas, and begin blurring the distinction between wireless and wireline provinces of the Verizon empire. Note that the “Rule the Air” marketing campaign and rebranding that took place earlier this year erased the “Wireless” from Verizon. -
There isn't a day that I turn my TV on and I don't think about cutting the cord. I've had triple play for a while now and over 100 channels, out of which I probably watch just five. Why do I need to pay for the other 95 channels? When I called my cable provider a while back and asked about receiving two international channels, they told me that it would cost an extra $29.99, but not to worry, I can give it a try and if I don't like it I can disconnect anytime. They also said they... -
Next Tuesday at TMForum Management World Americas conference in Orlando , I'll be presenting along with Sriram Chakrapani, (Chief, Integration Engineering Division, DISA) a presentation titled Policy Enabled Net-Centric Information Sharing .Due to this, and a whitepaper I'm putting the final touches on titled "Robust Net-Centric Services", I thought it would be an opportune time to write a post discussing the value of policy in defining robust net-centric services . As integration...
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