Telecom APIs open up the door for carriers to leverage the data that they already have to offer value-added services where, by definition, they can offer them at a premium and provide some level of differentiation as compared to these over-the-top applications. And so we discuss that in the report and we really highlight that because we believe that that is an unmet or under-met need where the carriers can not only improve their top line revenue, but really help their margins as well because bearer services (voice and raw data) margins are ever shrinking.
If network operators were to get together and form a Value-added Service Consortium, it would present some problems as the carriers compete with one another, so they could collaborate at a certain level, but when it comes to the realization of the apps themselves or the service, that would be problematic because the carriers compete with one another and the whole point is that they need to become more competitive relative to OTT players.
A consortium is something that could be a net benefit for carriers, even though they compete with one another because they are also competing with the OTT players. So they could collaborate at a certain level, but also compete with one another, so that at least they can better fight against the OTT players.
The VAS Consortium would focus on Communications Enabled Applications (CEA) facilitated by Telecom APIs. A CEA is a set of information technology (IT) components and communication technology components that are integrated using a particular service-oriented architecture (SOA) to increase the productivity of an organization and/or improve the quality of users’ experiences. Communications enabling apps via an API essentially means extending the data that’s available from telecom databases over a telecom API so that they can have information and data available to the app that they otherwise wouldn’t have available. This model would be like the OTT model where the carriers work with an OTT player and they develop an application so that they can offer direct to consumers, just like you might get from the Google Play Store.
For now, Mind Commerce sees the carriers continuing what they’re doing, offering B2B, business to business services, and they do this in a couple different ways: B2B2B, which is offering services to businesses so that they can offer to other businesses, and also B2B2C, which is carriers offering to businesses so they can offer to consumers.
Telecom Network API Marketplace: Strategy, Ecosystem, Players and Forecasts 2015 – 2020 provides an in-depth assessment of the global Telecom Network API market, including business models, business case, best practices, value chain analysis, operator and vendor strategies, vision for the future of telecom data, and a quantitative assessment of the industry from 2015 to 2020.
