The telecommunications sector in emerging markets will face both opportunities and challenges for the year 2015.
The market will continue to grow, creating the opportunity to add the next billion subscribers, but some threats – such as OTT players – will eat into operator revenue, creating a stir. As the market matures, operators will find that they have to provide better customer experience, and will expand their service offerings to encompass financial services, education, health and many others. This will cement the position of the industry as a force for change in the life of the everyday user.
Mobile broadband will be a key growth area in emerging markets, as it enables the masses to experience the benefits of the internet – including the aforementioned services such as mobile banking and e-commerce. The widespread availability of mobile broadband will bring dramatic changes to the lives of millions in emerging markets.
The growth of mobile broadband will require companies to take a more innovative approach. Monetising this data tsunami by ensuring a better customer experience will be a paradigm shift for operators in emerging markets, where voice has previously constituted over 90% of operator revenue. Meeting customer experience expectations will be a great challenge for operators. End subscriber experience will be the factor that determines profits for operators.
OTT players will destabilise the ecosystem to a great extent, with operators unable to rely on more traditional revenue streams such as SMS. This will force them to focus on adding value to their customers’ lifestyles, i.e. through content. Accordingly, mobile content will be a key growth area.
This is the beauty of digital the age; it takes really less time for new ideas to take off. The lower literacy rate typical to emerging markets will not be a roadblock to growth, with picture-based content and local language content encouraging less literate users of mobile broadband.
Bangladesh will not be an exception. In fact, in the last 12 months, Bangladesh has beaten all forecasts for 3G data growth. Capacity that was expected to last for 3 years has been exhausted in just one. In fact, the data boom is expected to outdo the voice growth that took place in the early 2000’s.
3G is in its inception in Bangladesh, and operators are feeling the pressure to meet customer experience expectations. While Bangladesh has witnessed substantial subscriber growth both in terms of voice and data, it still has huge potential for further growth with the regulator’s plan to release spectrum by March 2015.
Mustak Hossain is the Principal Advisor of Communications and PR for the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB).
