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Opportunities Beyond Quad Play Depend on Successful Cross Industry Alliances
Saturday, 11 July 2009 10:53
Many telecom companies are shifting away from traditional communications access providers and targeting the needs of a digitalized society. To this end, they have started looking for ways to not only offer Quadruple Play or Quad Play services that include fixed telephony, fixed broadband, TV and mobile communication services but also to enable end users to perform their daily social and business activities.
This development has two main trends. According to Yiru Zhong, Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst: "Service providers are keen to be relevant to their target customers by offering connectivity, entertainment and information services. The second main force is the shift toward a digitalized society in which end users increasingly conduct their lives in a digitally connected world."
Those twin factors set the scene for growth momentum in current economic conditions. Business models must adapt to remain relevant to end users in a convergent industry where success is largely measured by the scale of customers and/or networks. In an increasingly digitalized society, ubiquitous connectivity for daily social and business activities is both expected and demanded.
According to Frost & Sullivan's 2008 study, the revenues accruing to telecoms and pay TV service providers will reach around euro 208 billion at the end of 2008. By 2013, the revenue will reach euro 225 billion, driven by higher penetration of broadband connectivity and additional services such as TV/digital media and potentially connected home services.
Convergent industries rely on beneficial partnerships with key players in adjacent industries to ensure sustainable growth. Variants of such alliances can be observed as service providers address their distribution channels, content acquisition and cross-platform sales opportunities.
Orange is a good example of the benefits stemming from alliances. Through Orange TV, France Telecom has deepened end users' TV and media consumption habits. The company has also maximized various end user touch points through Orange TV's multiplatform strategy and with plans to inject greater end user interactivity through this Orange TV platform. By securing customer loyalty and enabling customers to interact freely with company content and within provided social groupings, France Telecom has strategically placed itself to monetize the relationship necessary to generate a third party revenue stream.
Successful transformation relies on tools that enable collaboration to effectively offer services that end users need and are willing to purchase. According to Frost & Sullivan, approximately euro 13.5 billion is being allocated toward investments in networks, platforms, systems and development in Europe.
The gradual but accelerating adoption of open standards, coupled with the desperate need of service providers to secure a sustainable revenue source from the existing end user market, means that life beyond Quad Play will require significantly more alliances to optimize resources and to start shaping the way the eco-system should collaborate in a connected home environment.
"We have only just witnessed one of the first few concrete steps toward pushing for a connected home reality - the leadership from telecoms from the point of view of network investments and service broadening is an important catalyst to kickstart the journey beyond Quad Play scenarios," adds Yiru Zhong.