Mobile Internet Age: operator Twilight

When OTT (mobile internet companies to bypass operators to develop their own business) surging, the day of the global operators are increasingly sad, once on the 3G network ages operators at the end of the way to get a license to build a good network but found that: they expect to collect a lot of data flow fee of the day has not come This round of network upgrades dismal input-output ratio is definitely not what operators want to see.

If Apple had been the pioneer of a short circuit operator in the App Store, then the Internet companies that had sprung up then were making the operator's situation even sadder. Operators have proposed the main application of 3G network video calls have been basically strangled in the cradle, look: Facetime, micro-letter such applications have been eating away at this part of the market.

The GSMA Association (the Global Mobile Communications Systems Association) has been working to help operators regain their position in the mobile internet world, with more than 800 operators worldwide who are members of the association, the industry's annual event MWC (Mobile World Congress) is also sponsored by the association. In the carrier is gradually reduced to the pipeline today, in addition to complaining about how to save themselves? Is it really dusk for operators in the mobile internet age? In December 2012, Anne Bouverot, president of the GSMA Association, gave some of her own advice in an interview with business Value magazine.

Industrial chain reform

Q What do you think is the biggest change that has taken place in the industry over the past 5 years?

A There is no doubt that the biggest change in the past 5 years has been the development of smartphones and mobile internet. 5 years ago, Apple launched its first iphone, the world's first intelligent terminal to access the mobile Internet, and then a large number of Android phones, speeding up the popularity of mobile terminals to access the Internet.

Q then in the industry chain also took place some huge changes, the original is the most powerful operators, but gradually the Internet manufacturers and intelligent terminal manufacturers of the voice gradually strengthened up, how do you see this change?

A I admit that internet companies are innovating faster than some mobile operators, but mobile operators are also speeding up new steps because they have come to realize the real problem of not being innovative enough. And GSMA's role is to help our members, these operators, to enhance their innovative ability.

At present, only two of the world's terminal manufacturers are truly profitable, that is, Apple and Samsung, other terminal manufacturers, such as Nokia's manufacturers, are struggling, in the difficult to struggle. It can be said that, like Apple and Samsung, they are now very strong, have a certain degree of dominance, but they need to constantly introduce new mobile phone style, new products to be able to stay in the industry's leading position, so they are in a very volatile environment. Mobile operators, by contrast, have a more stable business cycle.

Cross-border: the innovation direction of operators

Q GSMA How to help operators continue to innovate, change the network pressure increasingly become a pipeline situation?

A We work with mobile operators all over the world, on the platform of the GSM association, we have identified a number of key areas that require cooperative development. The first area is NFC (Near-field communications), and we see NFC and mobile payments as significant business opportunities for operators.

The second area of innovation is machine-to-machine (machine to machine interaction) technology, we can use machine-to-machine technology to build interconnected cities, interconnected lifestyles. We think there is a great potential for growth in this area, and we expect machine-to-machine technology to grow very strong in China. For this technical application, we see the following 3 areas:

The first area is interconnected cars, and we expect all cars to be interconnected in the future. The implementation of car-mounted internet technology in automobiles can improve the safety performance of automobiles, and can realize very rich car entertainment functions.

The second area is the use of mobile technology to improve the housing or private homes, apartments, security systems. For example, the interconnection technology can be used to deploy alarm systems for the home, as well as video surveillance systems and so on.

The third area is intelligent utilities, where we can use mobile technology to improve and optimize cities, including household energy use, to implement projects in smart cities.

Q These innovative paths may require more integration with other industries than traditional communications. In the process of integration with other industries, how does the GSMA association help these operators to break through these new problems?

For example, to ensure the success of interconnected vehicles, mobile operators must work closely with these carmakers. Now, one of the things that our association has done is to organize the forum of interconnected cars in the subregion, inviting mobile operators and carmakers to sit together, brainstorming and thinking about how the future cars should be constructed, and how the future mobile Internet and mobile networks can be built to support interconnected cars, Both sides do some planning and design for the future. Very good progress has been made in this area, with Ford Motor Company participating in the February 2012 World Conference on Mobile Communications and a special launch of a model that would allow access to the Internet. At the February 2013 World Conference on Mobile Communications, Ford and another manufacturer will come and bring us something new to update. In June 2013, at the Asia Mobile Communications Expo in Shanghai, we will be connected to cities, interconnected homes, as well as interconnected cars, these 3 areas in the future will show what kind of state, we also hope that in China will be invited to the relevant car manufacturers to participate.

Q future operator Innovation should pay special attention to the way of cross-industry cooperation?

A for most people now have smartphones, mobile terminals are an important innovation platform, on the smartphone platform, mobile operators themselves or with other industries can carry out a lot of innovation, such as Machine-to-machine technology innovation, mobile operators have to work with other industries, such as the Ford Motor Company, such as the automotive industry, Or in industries such as the financial and health service providers, the mobile-phone technology can become an important driving platform for cross-industry cooperation. And on top of this platform, the new services and new applications that we have created across the industry can serve all consumers, not just the operators, but also the customers of one manufacturer and one operator. We expect that in the future, mobile operators through cooperation, can create a unified platform, on this platform, implementation are similar, unified standards, you can use a unified standard to access this mobile platform to obtain the operators and other industries to provide services. As a result, this cross-sectoral service affects the entire national economy and can radically change the way people work and live.

Positioning of Chinese operators

Q in the operator innovation this piece, because the GSMA Association is the whole global nature, in which market, operator's innovation ability will be stronger?

A our association has just made a breakdown of the different mobile markets around the world, and we can divide the world's different mobile markets into categories by subdividing them. The first category, which is the most developed market, we call it "Digital Pioneer (digital forerunner)". We see the most developed markets including South Korea, Japan, the United States and the Nordic countries, including Norway and Sweden. In these countries, their innovation is the strongest, such as the development of LTE/4G technology is the fastest, and mobile technology, some new services, new applications are the first to develop in these markets.

We see in this market segment that China is a fast growing type of market. In a fast-growing market like China, we expect to achieve leapfrog development in the future and skip some stages to catch up with the advanced "digital pioneer" market in mobile technology. I think a market like China is growing faster than Europe in the future, because although the European market is relatively well developed and has a higher penetration rate than 3G, its future growth rate will not match China's.

Q How would you rate China Mobile, the world's largest operator?

A the role that China Mobile plays is very important. Let's say I give you an example, just now I introduced the technology development of NFC, 1 years ago, China Mobile had not decided whether to support the technology standard of NFC, so I went to China on the first trip to the Chinese mobile, of course, there are some other Chinese operators, I gave him the only one request, Is for China Mobile to think seriously about supporting the technology based on the SIM card NFC. China Mobile later made a decision to support NFC technology, and we jointly issued a news bulletin announcing the news. With this example, you can see that if 50 of the world's largest mobile operators, including China Mobile, are among the largest operators, they can all support a technology standard such as NFC, which will have a great impact on the world's mobile industry, For other vendors and operators who support similar standards, they will soon be concerned, for example, that Google will focus on what the world's biggest carriers are supporting, and they think it's a big deal.