{"id":451353,"date":"2010-03-20T11:00:58","date_gmt":"2010-03-20T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=107256"},"modified":"2010-03-20T11:00:58","modified_gmt":"2010-03-20T15:00:58","slug":"how-mobile-network-operators-must-evolve-as-data-ramps-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/451353","title":{"rendered":"How Mobile Network Operators Must Evolve as Data Ramps Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It wasn\u2019t too long ago that the path to success for mobile carriers was a straight one: Simply offer compelling handsets at competitive prices and maintain a top-notch network and your customers would be happy. And for those that weren’t<\/a>, manage a competent customer-care division.\u00a0That model is rapidly changing, though, as we reach the point of market saturation.<\/p>\n

Carriers in Western markets have precious little room for growth unless they poach customers from their competitors. Cell phone penetration in the U.S. stands at 89 percent,\u00a0according to CTIA<\/a>, and\u00a0Chetan Sharma pointed out<\/a> earlier this month that mobile\u2019s market penetration in America is 99 percent for people over than the age of five. The increase of\u00a0machine-to-machine connections<\/a> and the coming wave of connected consumer electronics (non-phones) will help, but carriers will have to evolve beyond being simple network operators if they\u2019re to thrive in the coming world of mobile data.<\/p>\n

Another factor beyond market saturation is at play here, too. Mobile is no longer just about being a provider of wireless phones and connectivity; it\u2019s about adding value with applications that leverage Web 2.0 features like presence and community and combining them with mobile\u2019s unique characteristics, such as portability and location awareness.<\/p>\n

While the rise of mobile Web 2.0 is a looming threat for network operators, it also presents an opportunity to develop and market more compelling “over-the-top” offerings\u00a0\u2014 applications and services from carriers that can be targeted at users on other networks. In my weekly column over at GigaOM Pro, I’ve taken a closer look at this topic, with a special focus on AT&T’s Buzz.com offering<\/a>.\u00a0I’m sure we’ll see more examples as carriers attempt to make a very difficult transition beyond their established business model into uncharted waters. What kind of opportunities do you see?<\/p>\n

Image courtesy <\/a> of Flickr user kevindooley<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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It wasn\u2019t too long ago that the path to success for mobile carriers was a straight one: Simply offer compelling handsets at competitive prices and maintain a top-notch network and your customers would be happy. And for those that weren’t, manage a competent customer-care division.\u00a0That model is rapidly changing, though, as we reach the point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6442,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-451353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451353\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}