The web is a highway; I wanna ride it all night long

Ok I don’t mean literally but, I would like to know that I can access the internet for content, services and socializing, wherever, however and whenever I want. Doesn’t everyone? However, this reality is under threat from the growing relationship between Content and Service Providers in the form of a discussion called Net Neutrality.

Net neutrality is a topic which I don't think is really going to go away and is something that almost everyone has an opinion on. Although, I don’t believe these views are really addressing the core problem. What I mean by that is, they are focused on demand for high capacity content exceeding the network’s monetary ability to supply along with its inability to dynamically scale to match the unpredictable nature of content. What we really need is a new approach, one which protects the customer experience in how they can access the internet both from usability, cost and prioritization, but doesn't get in the way of the education, commercial value and social aspects of the web.

Just recently I read again that video is dominating the web, but what is interesting is video downloads are still not used by everyone. Despite these downloads growing in demand, there are always different profile requirements. People could simply want to read the news, access their online services such as banking, government services or simply communicate with friends. However, with high demand services in the form of online video, gaming and content sharing growing this can place high strains on networks. Now, currently the content owners are happy as they have the ability to monetize their services either through direct payment or subsidized through advertising. You could of course ask the question why now is this a problem? The likes of Google, Microsoft and even Baidu, have been around for a long time. Yes, but it is the acceleration of demand, for high volume video content, that has changed the game and what is elevating the topic of who should have access to the multiple highways making up the web and ultimately who should pay for it?

Network providers would argue that everyone needs to pay for their content. Naturally, one would think, that it is a lot easier for an established player to pay an access fee on networks to reach their customers as compared with startup firms. As expected with startups, every dollar that leaves the company can detract from a dollar invested in their new solution or offering they have created, thus creating a canyon sized gap between the big players and those introducing new concepts and innovations. As you can assess, this then is not a viable option for the ongoing evolution of the web.

The OTT (Over The Top) players would say well let's open the network and force operators to treat all content equally. This of course would leave the operators in a dilemma of trying to balance the scale of required support for the volume of traffic, the costs for managing that network combined with the prices that customers are willing to pay. The OTT option is simply not viable. Either operators would eventually be run into the ground or be faced with expensive customer service costs as best effort becomes synonymous with not good enough.

I would therefore like to propose a third option. Associate price based upon the load on the network. We could do it the same way that many major European roads fees are, paid by drivers, based on the weight of their vehicles. By doing so, we will encourage the right behaviour, as they will all understand that I am getting what I am paying for. If a customer wants to watch something in real time, whether that is video or gaming, they either pay an incremental fee or the content owner allocates parts of its revenues to the operator carrying that traffic. This will encourage content providers to think with operators in solving the problems regarding how they can optimize traffic, avoid expensive replication of Internet live streams and ultimately think through the problem leveraging the creative force of the OTT community. Of course someone will say, there is already a mechanism to pay more when you want to download more, isn’t it as simple as paying a higher price for buying a faster broadband connection? This may be true when it comes to the local connection piece of the equation however, remember this is a mesh of highways and it is those who are pulling down the large files that can clog these highways. I believe we need to provide users with a choice, three choices actually. One, pick the slower lane and you will receive your file when it is ready (paying lower costs), or two, if you simply must have it now, pay for it be downloaded faster (pay higher costs). The third option is to have your content provider subsidize you for the download (costs vary). In the end we will all need to work out a model which protects the user experience whilst not inhibiting the access and personal choice on how to download content. This does not mean that network providers are let off the hook, network providers must be held accountable for the quality of the user experience to whomever is the paying party to ensure they are equally held accountable in driving innovation to improve the network experience for each customer, as well as maintaining healthy diversity in how we access content to ensure competition and therefore choice.

We need to remember that the Internet has become a utility. It is one of our most important commodities and it requires, OTT players and network providers alike, to figure out how we can not only continue to ensure its survival, but also leverage it as a source of innovation and service creation. It is an innovation and resource that everyone can and should benefit from. Bottom line is it shouldn't matter whether you want to read a newspaper, watch a live football game or socialize content with friends. For all of us, the web has become the all important highway for information, collaboration and fun. The web is a highway and well, if you are like me, then you’ll want to continue to ride it all night long too!

Time to get out of the box!

Mobile Operators are at the crossroads of an exciting Journey. They need to choose to become the best of breed connectivity player delivering Internet access, Talk and text services, OR become a next generation services provider delivering multi-media and end user applications. Now I am not here to pass judgement or to say which is better (ok I do have a view), however they must choose a path as trying to dance between the two will only cause increasing prioritization challenges and conflicts of investment strategies. My intent with this article is to open the eyes of operators so that they may see an opportunity before them.

In order to move forward Mobile Operators need to get back to what they were known for, when Mobile Networks were the next best thing driving innovation and service creation.  Remember when we couldn't send more than 30 characters in a message, or the first time you viewed the Internet through your mobile? I mean, come on, how cool was that! The status of Mobile Networks going “All IP” has finally arrived and hence a new horizon has been reached!  So, what are we going to do differently?

Despite a growing view that Over the Top (OTT) players “own the customer relationship”, I suggest you ask yourself this simple question:  “Who do you call when you can’t access certain content or make a Skype call or even view your Google maps?”…. The majority of us first call our mobile operator, with a common statement of “Hey, I can’t access my Apps, Content, or speak to my family whilst trying to avoid your expensive long distance charges!” In my view, if the operator is being asked to be accountable, then shouldn’t they leverage the role as a differentiator as well? Operators have a great chance to remove demarcations and show their customers a true value service, where predictability in end user costs are provided – therefore reducing bill shock when accessing high bandwidth services; and where customers can choose what type of content they want.

I believe, there are some very exciting services that Mobile Operators should consider, if they haven’t already, offering to their customers:

·         Media:  This is the most obvious avenue, given Mobile networks are moving to an all IP network, they can now prioritize and effectively optimize traffic to balance quality of experience whilst minimizing loads on the network to minimize impact on other customers. There are equally exciting opportunities to work with local content providers and/or broadcasters. Operators provide significant value in that they can provide very detailed information on the profile of the individual watching the content (no this is not about selling information, but about profiling a customer base to drive demand and more importantly relevance of advertisements and content to the end user. This is something broadcasters fail to do today when we are watching on our TV’s at home, Yes Broadcaster and Content providers can predict, based on time of day but that is really it, to have the opportunity to know , who is watching what type of content and when would increase the granularity and market insights. This means broadcaster could tell their advertisers that they could increase the profiling of viewers for specific shows and ultimately realize a better ROI for their programming.

·         Applications: Yes we all know the demand and “stores” of applications are expanding rapidly, however, they remain tied to specific Operating System stores and as such, remain difficult to share amongst friends with different operating systems. Mobile Operators are quite unique in that they don’t care if a customer prefers an Iphone over an Android, or Nokia above Blackberry (hey it could happen). Therefore, consider an application store, which is run by the Operator, where customers are able to recommend applications to friends, create apps and share them across a broader market without worrying what Operating System their application is based on or what type of device their friends choose to use.  And because of this, they then see the relevance and value of a Operator enabled store that much faster! Equally, local hosting of the applications improves customer experience for the application owner – especially for the growing number of high bandwidth demanding services, as well as localization of Internet traffic. For Application developers, in local markets, it is always a choice of what app store do you start hosting your application on. Yet, mobile operators have an opportunity to help the application developer access multiple Operating Systems and, at the same time, promote their particular application to a broader audience. The value for the operator, as mentioned earlier, comes in optimization of those access applications across their “all IP” mobile network and I would suggest sharing the advertising monetization with the app developer.

·         Service Bundling: Historically we have looked at bundles based on a mobile device, phone line and access to the Internet. But, these days, all of these elements are a given. Why not change this to become: access your top three social media pages, favourite content sources and/or applications? By collecting all of this data, Mobile Operators can then share with the customer what other content or apps may be of interest based on similar profiles without divulging personal data! Equally in understanding these preferences for customers operators can start to prioritize or optimize traffic to ensure customers receive an exciting experience whilst also working with the content or service owner to consider hosting high demand services with the operator to reduce overseas Internet expense and improve performance.

·         Advertising: This has become a fact of life, whether you like it or not, it is here to stay. We see ads everywhere on line and where the Mobile Operator can add value, is to use this to help the customer gain access to content and services at a lower cost. Before you skip past this idea, consider for a moment an option to buy into Ad categories which are of relevance to you and use these as credits to offset your new profile based service bundles or expand your bundle to other services at little or no extra cost. We have tended to forget that the Advertisers will consider all avenues to reach their potential customers as long as they are more likely to view the advertising. Let’s face it, if you know the ads being shown are of relevance and then you are more likely to click on the ad. Combine this with basic profile data of Day, Time, location and personal preferences to create the greatest likelihood of interest for both the end customer and the advertiser. in the end it is the operator who is actually facilitating the relationship and making it beneficial to both!

Mobile Operators are at a cross roads, they have the capability to redefine the customer experience through optimization, prioritization and packaging. The “all IP” network means it is much easier to introduce over the top services which could be viewed on laptops, mobiles or tablets (and increasingly TV’s!) The traditional Over the top providers (OTT’s) may become agitated with this approach, however, in my opinion; it is ultimately what we have been missing for some time.  A healthy competition and a realization that mobile operators have more than one choice, when it comes to delivering a content and service rich diversity and high quality customer experience. It is up to the OTT players to excite the operators in how they are going to partner in service creation, customer growth and end to end service assurance. OTT’s have a choice to make as Operators are now in a position to shop around.

Mobile Operators therefore need to identify the role they want to play, build the above capability or identify the partners (not suppliers) who they can work with to achieve the same. However, whatever the decision, the end result MUST be that they take responsibility for the end to end customer experience and that is only possible if they embrace the Over the Top model, recognize that the era of talk and text is moving to all IP and OTT players are increasingly challenging mobile operators for this space. Going all IP means Operators can now leverage the growing standardization that Operating systems for mobile devices have brought us and ultimately it is the OTT’s who have provided the opportunity to Operators to create their own services, or as I like to say perhaps now is the time for Mobile Operators to go “OTT to the OTT!”

Driving Change in 2014

The internet as we once knew it is no more

The worldwide web used to be a “go to” location for all our information needs, where we would consume online content and play games has now become a recognised utility no different to electricity, transport infrastructure or water. Over time however, the internet has also evolved to become a critical delivery platform enabling a raft of new services. Where we once read news or simply sent emails, we now use this “utility” to bank, shop, access business applications hosted in the cloud, watch the latest TV shows and listen to music, as well as interact with our friends, family and peers (ok and for me play the occasional online game!)

APAC is experiencing rapid growth of connected devices. This proliferation of devices – such as smartphones, tablets and laptops – allows us to connect to our networks remotely, highlighting the fundamental alterations in how we use and interact with technology. So much so, many of us haven’t even noticed it has taken place. For instance, consider the younger generation (yes it seems I am no longer part of that group!) who no longer refer to “going online”, they are simply accessing applications and services with little or no regard to how they get there or where they exist.

Given our changing relationship with the online world and its growing importance to our general day-to-day lives, businesses are increasingly looking at how they can maximise its value and the consumer insight it delivers. This is driving significant technological change within IT platforms.

As organisations across APAC embrace the IT transformations that are underway – particularly in cloud, big data and mobile – and embark further along their journeys, there is a significant opportunity for businesses to better serve their customers through technological change while growing the bottom line.

A New Era of Cloud in 2014

We’re entering a really exciting era for cloud technology. Over the past year alone, cloud providers have increasingly discovered their individual and unique cloud plays – whether it’s supplying to specific industries or public, private or hybrid platforms – and have expanded their services accordingly.

One-size no longer fits all, and in 2014 businesses can expect to realise the benefits tailored cloud platforms deliver as providers begin to offer solutions designed to individual customer needs. As providers recognise their strengths, they will also identify partnership opportunities with vendors offering complimentary technology to their existing portfolios.

The progress we’re seeing in the cloud will also filter into the business network itself in 2014, where we’ll increasingly see networks being defined by dynamic needs of business functions and the introduction of business process service level agreements (SLAs). For instance, cloud platforms will be linked with traditional on premise applications, such as a CRM or SCM environment. This will enable the network to reshape itself and categorise its applications based on current activity levels so that network traffic and the needs of remote workers can be easily managed and prioritised.

Innovate in the Cloud

This year we’re also going to see a growing number of applications developed by businesses, a trend enabled by the fail-fast culture of cloud. Today, businesses are more willing to develop their own business applications as they are educated on the flexibility offered by the cloud.  They simply need to buy the relevant computing space to test an idea, and then shut if off again when the idea has run its course. This means less risk and the cost of exposure for the business is greatly reduced when compared to the previous options and methods available.

With the cycle of applications being delivered and created gathering momentum in 2014, the Enterprise App store will arrive on the scene as CIOs provide employees with a selection of applications endorsed and supported by the organisation. Until now this has had limited success, but with widespread adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and publicly hosted secure applications it will be an increasing focus for businesses seeking to enhance productivity.

Collaborate and Share

Businesses that deploy application programming interfaces (APIs), allowing developers to design products based on an organisation’s services, will also achieve success this year. For instance, businesses can build their web conferencing capabilities into another web-based application, such as instant messaging, enabling seamless collaboration and communication between individuals.  

The reality is that organisations rarely use applications in siloes, meaning those vendors offering API solutions this year that increase collaboration with complementary products and markets stand to benefit from increased sales with their customers.

Intelligent Insights Deliver Results

In recent times, big data has been more akin to trying to drink from a fire hydrant - we can access a lot of it but have little time to digest it. In 2014 however, businesses will start applying different lenses to data sets so that they can identify what is relevant to them or impacting upon their business. By focusing on the data that is relevant to them, businesses will be well placed to optimise their services and customer experience, similar to that same fire hydrant being attached to a water dispenser allowing us to choose what type of water, colour, and temperature we are interested in extracting at any point in time.

Looking further ahead into 2015, businesses will start to use the data they are collecting to predict future activity or the impact of unforeseen circumstances.  This will be driven by the ability of Smart Data platforms assessing patterns and delivering forecast and trending data enabling improved business planning. For example, if a customer pays for their movie tickets via near field communication (NFC), the mobile operator could identify the most frequent days the user visits the cinema, and send them discount codes for these dates. Over the coming years, this approach to data analytics will become an extension of who businesses are and their operations.

Drive Change

Today, businesses across APAC have access to an unprecedented amount of tools and services from a variety of IT vendors, which is driving greater confidence in identifying innovative ways to address business challenges. Additionally, businesses are being forced to understand and adapt to the way consumers use and interact with technology from the devices we use to the ways in which we choose to engage with vendors and service providers.

Encouragingly, businesses are being very proactive and the next 12 months will be telling as more and more companies come to grips with the technologies making a real difference to their operations. Ultimately, the approaches being adopted will introduce increased business elasticity which will aid in addressing the two biggest ongoing challenges of business today: risk mitigation and bottom line profitability.

Well that's my view on the world, what's your's? Feel free to share by commenting on this blog!

Half-Life of Technology

I can remember when my parents last bought a new TV, they had the old one for more than 10 years! With the new TV installed and in use they actually only then realized that everything looked better in HD! I share this with you as I have been thinking about the speed, at which these days, we are refreshing our technology devices. Think about it, what is the “half life” of your technology devices these days and by that I mean, at what point, are you already starting to think about upgrading your devices from the moment you purchased the last one? Half-life is the moment when you could continue to use your device but it is either so far behind the functionality of other devices or because of performance issues, it is increasingly unusable – both points, which would normally take 3-5 years, are now more likely to be only 1-2 years.


Historically, we would see significant forward leaps in technology or that our current devices, of “x” years, had simply given up to validate the half life point when we were considering a new device. However, today these changes are brought about, not by leaps forward in device functionality, but merely by the controls put on us by vendors seeking to sell as much hardware as possible, as frequently as possible. We have all seen the leap forward in functionality and speed for mobile phones, laptops and tablets over the past 20 years, however, we are seeing this definitely slowing. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some great developments in recent years, but many of these are software related. We have to ask ourselves how many of these updates, whether they be related to mobile, media or network, could actually have been made on the existing hardware or upgrading what they already have. Do you really have to buy a new device and/or network to gain the functionality through a potential software upgrade?

I am increasingly amazed to see so many new software releases on home and mobile devices being limited to a particular selection of devices – if you don’t have the latest phone, TV, media hub or home router, then the update might not work on your device … oh and by the way even if you do, it may only be applicable for the coming three releases (usually within a year). At this point, you will most likely start to reach the Half-life of your device, without even realizing it, and as you consider a new device, in order to realize the benefits of new upgrades and performance. We have all experienced hitting the well known wall of functionality or been in the position of receiving the last available upgrade designed to stretch your devices performance. This is the time they want to “educate” us in looking at new devices to realize performance gains once again. This is definitely not a circle of life (okay technology) that I was not looking to be a part of.

So, why is there a drive against reusing Hardware and the rapidly decreasing half-life of our devices? I thought everything was supposed to be in the cloud – i.e. accessible to all through your devices so that we didn’t need all of these upgrades? What happened to the services we wanted using the devices we wanted and simply accessing these in the cloud as and when we choose?

There is an exciting opportunity here to the emerging device and software manufacturers to partner and develop solutions which simplify the end device to being only a terminal and all of the smarts and computing in the cloud resulting in an upgradable system without having to change your handset – oh hang on that was called Virtual Desktop, something which can work on everything from Computers to Mobiles to Media devices. BUT, why would manufacturers want to do this when it would result in potentially selling less Hardware and more software … woah isn’t that a potential environmental benefit as well? The improvements in networks to businesses and the home mean we are ready for this change, however hardware vendors would need to change their business model, something which obviously will be difficult, as hardware results in quick revenues and software can mean lower revenues to start with but more sustainable and adjustable to the market needs

In all seriousness, something is going to need to change. The half-life of technology devices has dropped rapidly and in order to realize sustainable benefits, once again, we as the end user community and technology evangelists need to be driving a change in approach. Lets realize this push into cloud services! This will enable all of us to extend the life of our existing devices whilst leveraging new capabilities, pushed to us from the extensive number of data centres and internet platforms, that are already out there. I enjoy testing new devices but I would much rather be testing how different software solutions could maximize my device as opposed to restricting its functionality and more importantly limiting its life span to less than four seasons.

I look forward to a generation of platforms which shift the focus back to the needs of the end user experience, separate from device and platform, yet central to defining multiple scenario experiences for the end user, i.e. we decide how we want to view content, applications and services depending on the device or platform we choose to use, rather than being limited by them. Maybe this is wishful thinking but it’s my Birthday so today I should be allowed to ... right?

Bridging the Generation Gap

I had a deja-vu experience the other day, nothing like seeing a cat cross my path twice or similar, but suddenly realizing I am now in my parents shoes from some 15 years ago. Put simply, the education I gave to my parents on how to use their mobile phone was being given to me by my kids on the use of my Tablet. My daughter comes to me and says “Dad, I can’t access YouTube on your tablet.” I reply that well sometimes it doesn’t work over the Internet. Her response: “That’s ok Dad, if you download the YouTube application onto your tablet over the Wi-Fi you will find it works better and then I can always access my favourites!” To this, I respond: “Yes I know, when I have time I will set it up for you”. She then highlighted to me, “It’s ok Dad, just give me your password. I know how to set it up for you and then I can even save your favourites for you too!” Well that clearly wasn’t going to happen; she is only four by the way. Then you also have my son who somehow knows how to access the Nintendo Wii that we have and reset all of the high-scores except his to ensure his character is shown at the beginning of each game that he plays in front of his family and friends.
Now I remember as a kid the most high tech device I had was a computer console that let you play tennis, hockey and squash in black and white. I was amazed by how cool it was with all the sophistication of a single button and a dial to move your bat up and down the screen. In contrast, I now get asked by my eldest daughter to help her load music from a CD onto her iPod because it’s a bit old and she wants to listen to some of her parents music which she can’t get as mp3 tracks from her friends. When did the digital era end? The technology market has clearly changed!
The key dynamic in all of these technology changes is the user experience and what I find interesting is the growing gap in terms of the market demands by end users. For Generation Alpha it is clearly all about immediacy and own preferred technology, whereas for the Baby Boomers it is all about ease of use. These are two very contrasting views and the challenges for technology companies and integrators alike is to find a way to manage this balance, enable personalization but retain core components which are intuitive and don’t require the ability to reconfigure a device or platform to interface with their own technology. At this point I expect there are two groups pausing here and contemplating one of two things:
1) Well of course you integrate a new technology with what you have - that is how you maximize the new widget whilst at the same time retaining your own preference in platforms.
2) Why am I integrating something, it just works right?
Or perhaps there is a third group – you want to connect what to what?

You should be able to identify with one of these scenarios and interestingly, the third group is actually the oldest technology engaging generation and at the same time, the youngest. We may understand the reasons for the former, but it is the next generation that simply expect it to work, it’s all about immediacy and me, the simple expectation being I connect a new technology to my existing devices or technology and it just works because the interfaces are already designed to speak to each other. For this generation the Android vs. Apple debate isn’t even a topic - they are focused on the application and service layer.
At the point it might sound like I am referring to the obvious and also provide businesses with peace of mind that they don’t need to worry as this is why their technology is targeted at a specific market segment and if it does not reach all users, this isn’t a concern due to the size of each of these addressable markets. However this is where the slap in the face comes in. If you are trying to introduce technology into a business environment where there is a mix of users, it must be viewed as usable by all. I had one experience where what one person thought was a great conferencing platform that could integrate with all of their devices, another person felt that this required a science degree to have it work on more than one configuration.

Technology is definitely an enabler for businesses but any technology firm seeking to introduce new offerings into a business environment needs to adhere to three clear guidelines:
1. User Experience: The technology must be able to shape to individual preferences.
2. Adoption: It is not enough that one group in a business adopts the technology, it must be used by all otherwise it will ultimately fail to see sustained use.
3. Relevance: Every user must be able to translate how a new technology will improve their working environment.

Now these might sound straight forward but look at your own development teams. Can you see a mix of generations being engaged in developing and introducing a new technology to market? If yes, then your teams should be able to answer the above questions for the different generations with ease. If they look at you quizzically then be afraid, as without bridging the diversifying generation gap, your great technology or business idea will ultimately fail and you will be recognized as having developed a great technology or platform but a technology/platform that could not be used within a business environment. Businesses are often challenged with adapting to the markets they seek to operate in - it is time technology providers started to consider the same for the growing diversity of technology users within a business as well. There is a simple analogy here for technology firms, as far as survival in an Enterprise environment for technology. It is a case of adapt or die.

Living in a Device World

How many devices do you own? 3, 5 more? I actually checked mine the other day, 3 PC’s, 2 laptops, 2 tablets, 6 mobile phones and one internet enabled TV, frightening really. The mobile phones act as a reminder to me as to how fast technology has evolved, but what I find the most intriguing is the shift in ecosystem around the end user whether that be Corporate employee, teenager or even parent for that matter. Historically it has been the Mobile Operator owning all aspects of the customer relationship, then we had the Operating System owners now referred to as the Over The Top providers (OTT) who started to build more of a relationship with the customer, understanding their preferences and starting to have a direct financial engagement with the end user, something which the Mobile Operator had owned for so long. At this point I expect most readers look at this and think – well done good to know you know where we are at! But this isn’t about where we are it is about where we are headed.

In recent reports the industry has talked about there being more than 10 billion internet connected devices in the world in the next 3 years, this represents a significant shift from the days of asking your parents to upgrade their 64kbit Data Phone line! With such a variety of devices we can now choose how we want to communicate, interact and be engaged by our various providers whether they be Mobile, OTT or a specific platform, this is creating new opportunities for individuals to connect with niche providers as they find ways of distributing their services beyond the traditional boundaries of geography or language. Today you or may not be aware but you could find your messaging originates from the US, your voice app from Israel, your news from Germany, your games from Sweden, your online shopping from HK and your security from France (at least for me anyway)! Less than 5 years ago all of these would have been provided by your mobile operator as the single source of communication and data services some would see this as just the evolution of technology but I see this as a missed opportunity.

The most unique thing of living in a device world has been the evolution to ALL IP based platforms for all forms of communications whether that be Voice, Data, Video or even application. For Mobile Operators this is their 4G or LTE networks, for fixed operators this is the fulfilment of W-Fi canopy’s across cities, all of which ensuring access to the end user and hence the ability to offer services consistently to their customers without the risk of other providers hijacking their customers. This access anywhere offering though also means that Mobile operators and fixed operators are opening their networks to OTT’s and app providers to engage directly with their customers, some network providers have taken the approach to charge for access to these OTT or app providers or even limit connectivity to them through DPI (deep packet inspection) technology. There is another approach though and some network operators have seized the opportunity – the creation of their own ecosystems whether that be cultural or language specific applications and content which can work on any network but drives voice and data back onto their own network. One recent example I have seen is the creation of a language specific messaging and social network application developed for a particular highly migrant population, one which has been successful despite the diverse online offerings available.

Operators need to seize the opportunity and become Over the top providers to the OTT’s of this world, the Operators still have the ultimate relationship with the customer, one which – for now - is unique to them – they know who the end customer is, their billing address and their preferences for communicating with the wider world. The Operators are still responsible for the end connection to the customer and instead of defending against the “dumb pipe” analogy which is thrust upon them they need to turn this to their advantage through the creation of dynamic ecosystems around the end user, independent of device or application used yet remaining relevant based on their preferences and engagements with friends, family, colleagues and systems. Some operators would see this as a risk and for many stepping outside of their comfort zone can be a concern, but I would suggest act now or competitors will seize the opportunity and those competitors will be OTT providers and other network operators alike.

We are living in a device world and contradictory to popular belief that with so much diversification markets and solutions would become fragmented, however new opportunities are arising with the potential to actually make OTT providers just another element of the ecosystem an ecosystem which the operators both fixed and mobile can be responsible for facilitating to the end user. The world we live in remains as dynamic as the diversity of our global culture, hence the opportunity is not short term, we will continue to live in a world of devices and it is up to individual operators to decide on what role they will play … Carpe Diem!