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For someone whos part and parcel of the telecom business, and has been
exploring new and innovative opportunities in this market, attending the GSM
World Conference is akin to taking a shot of adrenalin.
The action, the hype, the exciting keynotes, the panel discussions, and above
all the congregation itselfover 8,000 paid attendees, 50,000 visitors, 1300
exhibitors, 230 CEOs is enough to keep one awake for the four days and nights
that the conclave is on.
Global Telecom Space
If I were to use GSM World as the backdrop to build my own version of the
existing global telecom scenario and its road ahead, I would say that GSM is and
will continue to be the path to the future. The trend is particularly prevalent
in emerging market economies such as India and China. According to the Cellular
Operators Association of India, the GSM industry added more than 6 mn
connections in India in January-February 08.
Today, service providers are keenly eyeing the mobile advertising space. The
potential of mobile advertising is expected to touch around $30 bn in the next
3-4 years. Service providers are eying this opportunity as incremental revenue
and hence looking forward on capitalizing it.
The mobile is a one-to-one channel, where the consumer can be targeted and
profiled in real-time and with the greatest degree of detail and accuracy. At
the same time, it is also possible to get an immediate response from the user to
know whether a campaign has been well accepted. With the mobile, they can get an
instant input on whether a consumer saw the ad and responded to it.
Already, service providers in the UK, including Vodafone, Orange, O2 and
T-Mobile, have been asked by GSMA, to create standards for mobile advertising.
The aim is to get in place a metrics to show advertisers the kind of returns
they can get out of their mobile campaigns.
Toward Mobile Internet
While mobile advertising is an opportunity just waiting to open up, the big
thing to happen on the cell phone will be mobile Internet. This trend, in fact,
is already in place and set to gain momentum as speed and bandwidth become
irrelevant on the mobile. In emerging markets, in particular, the mobile phone
is expected to provide millions of consumers, their first taste of the Internet.
Currently, speed is the issue. While 3G and 3.5 G are good, there is a
cutting-edge technology waiting in the wings, called HSDPA (high speed downlink
packet access), which is moving toward long-term evolution (LTE). The focus of
this would be on providing the best user experience by upgrading to the latest
and fastest technologies.
Facing the Challenges
While the potential of the mobile platform is immense and endless, certain
challenges could mar the rosy picture. The fact is that to bring the complete,
end-to-end mobile experience to consumers in these regions, the countries will
need to upgrade to 3G or beyond.
On the mobile advertising front too, the primary limitation is privacy. Yet
another issue, which is relevant in developed countries, is that most mobile
customer contract relationship is pre-paid or pay-as-you-go, where it is
almost impossible to know the profile of a user or track his/her usage patterns.
Clearly, mobility as a trend is picking up with great briskness. As long as
consumers are assured of a better user experience based on faster speeds and
applications that move beyond voice and SMSes, and this experience is
affordable, going mobile will be the only way to go!
Sanjit Chatterjee
The writer is global sales head of Flytx, UK
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in
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