WBA Panel: Using Wi-Fi to Maximize Coverage and Revenue

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012 Steve Livingston, Sr. Vice President of Carrier Development

Last week I participated in a panel at the WBA Wi-Fi Global Congress in Seoul, Korea.  Other panel members included representatives from Accuris Networks, AT&T, Oi WiFi, and Strategy Analytics.  We discussed how to maximize international data roaming revenue and coverage through Wi-Fi. I found the dialogue fascinating, particularly due to my familiarity with this topic; iPass specializes in providing this opportunity to mobile operators through our Open Mobile Exchange (OMX).

The global mobile computing market that the panel members work in is experiencing a period of significant change. With subscriber penetration at 100% or above in the developed world, mobile operators must target not only subscribers, but their multiple devices.  The average traveler today carries 2.8 devices, and consumes increasing amounts of data due not only to the number of devices, but new apps coming to market daily. A carrier with a proposition to connect all devices, including Wi-Fi only devices, will provide valuable services that the consumer craves, and at a more affordable price. Consequently, large carriers are putting together compelling offers and propositions which will result in 2012 being the year that Wi-Fi roaming for the consumer will begin in a meaningful way.

The real jewel for a mobile operator offering an international Wi-Fi roaming proposition is to provide domestic customers with a proposition that their competitors do not offer.  By differentiating with this capability, carriers are able to address the high value customers, the most critical to retain and attract.   Bundling these domestic services in the right way delivers higher ARPU (average revenue per customer) and customer loyalty.

One European carrier forecasts that for every subscriber they have today in their entire base, by adding an International Wi-Fi roaming proposition they will recognize €9/subscriber per year.  Extrapolating, a carrier with 10 million subscribers could potentially increase revenue by €90 million per year, a substantial amount for any company.  Why wouldn’t a mobile operators take advantage of this lucrative business model?

 

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Bill Shock Complaints Push Operators into Action

Monday, June 25th, 2012 Steve Livingston, Sr. Vice President of Carrier Development

GSMA member operators meeting this week committed to making mobile data roaming charges easier to understand and more transparent, in an effort to calm the waters with subscribers experiencing bill shock after travel. The twenty-four operators signing on the plan represent over 400 million subscribers worldwide.

These mobile operators are taking a big step forward by making data roaming charges easier to understand as well as setting up protection from accidentally running high mobile data bills, but the consumer is still being put on a diet when traveling abroad.  Consumers are growing more dependent on their digital and connected lives and want to access the same applications and content when they travel as when they are at home.  Increasingly, subscribers have become so dependent on this connection that access has migrated from a desire to a necessity, for both business and personal reasons.

There will be some carrier disrupters that will provide the consumer with this obvious benefit, and those carriers will quickly reap the benefits from these high valued customers as well as their families.  A further step that will distinguish these operators from their competitors is taking advantage of services such as iPass Open Mobile Exchange. Tapping into rapidly growing global Wi-Fi availability will  allow carriers to support their subscribers more cost-effectively for data hungry applications, benefiting both the consumer and the operator.

 

 

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