Over-the-top content is a fact of life for network operators and the friend or foe conversation continues. Telekom Austria Group has announced a new offer to ride the wave of traffic its OTT customers drive to its network. The traffic is coming, so why not craft services to help retain it.
How online media is consumed continues to evolve as mobile devices are equipped with faster and faster mobile broadband connections. The choice of location and device utilized by consumers to watch their favorite video media expands with new options entering the market in a consistent flow. Not too many years ago if you told me about the changes to come in this area I might not have believed it.
The Austrian subsidiary of Telekom Austria Group, A1 Now, will work jointly with its OTT partners to define a new mobile-viewing experience presenting a win-win for all involved. Viewers have higher-speed connections along with a better quality of viewing experience, OTTs have expanded sales channels for their content via a quality network connection and A1 Now has a new revenue stream. One that might be overlooked, and often is by many network operators, in the desire to compete vs. partner with OTT providers.
A1 Now currently has 259,000 fixed-line customers. At the end of 2012, the service was expanded to offer HD services and an expanded portfolio of content. In 2014, the A1 TV app was launched to allow mobile devices to take advantage of this content. The app also allows a smart device to act as a remote control for the TV content.
The new program will launch with a trial by 1,000 customers spread across different network operators in Austria. The trial will focus on on-demand mobile TV content services and will include television series and feature films and be available via smartphones, tablets and the Web when away from home. Up to 10 hours of content can be recorded in the cloud and retained for about 90 days for viewing at a later time. The entire set of programming will also be available via the cloud for seven days after the programming has initially aired.
The more mobile network operators can integrate their networks with OTT content and service providers the more opportunities there are for new service offers to their existing customer bases. By continuing to offer new options they have the ability to retain this direct customer relationship vs. risking losing it to OTT players. The customer relationship along with the data mined from buying and usage patterns is one of the greatest assets mobile network operators have today. They should work hard to keep it.
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Claudia Bacco, Managing Director – EMEA for RCR Wireless News, has spent her entire career in telecom, IT and security. Having experience as an operator, software and hardware vendor and as a well-known industry analyst, she has many opinions on the market. She’ll be sharing those opinions along with ongoing trend analysis for RCR Wireless News.
