TMCnet News
Focus on operator strategies: Changing direction(Total Telecom Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) It can be a tricky business trying to find a clear direction in order to stand out in todays ultra competitive telecoms markets. Convergence and multiple bundles are giving rise to new specialist service providers, and everybody seems to want a slice of everyone elses business. Just look at some of the branding and cross marketing going on. One announcement last month, in particular, demonstrated just how hard telcos are having to work. Orange UK said it would offer a free flight to selected European and US cities to the first 20,000 customers to sign up to its services on a 30-per-month contract. In so doing, Orange raised the bar when it comes to targeting the roughly 1 million mobile phone users who switch networks every month in the UK. But its not all about marketing value-add. Operators sometimes are having to fight just to get their name recognised in crowded markets. Even the mighty AT&T has had to re-incorporate some of the acquired Cingular brand into its promotional material; apparently, some customers just dont see AT&T as a mobile brand. Others have followed the lead of Orange in rebranding under a single banner: MTC, a big hitter in the Middle East and Africa, is set to rename its operations Zain by the end of next year. MTC aims to become a top 10 global mobile operator in the next four years. Whatever their aims, many telcos are having to restructure their organisations in order to get to the next phase. PCCW has moved towards a model of providing content, and that has meant stripping out a culture of engineering and replacing it with a far more commercial research and development ethos. Now it has become a landmark IPTV provider, setting the example for other markets. In Norway, Telenor has learned that it needs to get better at serving its customers before it brings new IP services online. To that end it is focused on improving the service delivery chain, and hopes its all-IP plans will help it to map network investment to business opportunities. AT&T faces a bigger challenge of having to stitch together its sizable acquisitions. It is plotting a global course, but that can have an impact on getting products to market even with its long development experience. Perhaps Orange is right to push the boundaries and try out more radical strategies. Another of its steps has been to revamp its R&D, creating an elite team to speed up time to market for new innovations. In so doing it has sped out some new products and leads the way in Europe with services such as IPTV and convergence. Copyright 2007 Terrapinn Ltd |