ATLANTA-Marconi plc released the results of a Roper Starch Worldwide survey on the current state of the telecom sector at SuperComm in Atlanta last week, which revealed, among other things, that the majority of the 91 telecommunications carriers and 112 enterprises surveyed believe the telecommunications industry is either stabilizing or growing.
The survey also found confusion and frustration among enterprises and service providers about what broadband technologies can do for them. Sixty-nine percent of enterprises said broadband wasn’t realizing its potential in terms of applications or profit, and 68 percent of service providers expressed similar sentiments.
“There are clear intentions to invest, with the majority of people giving first priority to revenue-generating broadband technology and services,” said John Mayo, chief executive officer designate of Marconi. “And there is a clear requirement for superior customer service-being able to understand what customers want, and being able to respond to those needs.
“However, we also know from the survey that people don’t believe that broadband is realizing its profit potential, and the reason for this is the fundamental challenge of making money across the entire value chain. It’s a business model problem,” Mayo said.
About 65 percent of surveyed carriers said they plan to increase their network investments over the next 12 months, while only 3 percent said they will decrease investments. Just over half of all the enterprises asked said they would increase their investments in the next year, and 5 percent said they would decrease.
Stability was cited as one of the most important factors in service providers choosing equipment vendors and enterprises choosing service providers. According to the survey, 79 percent of carriers said “being around for the long term” was very important in selecting a vendor, and 70 percent of enterprises rated stability as “very important” in choosing a service provider.
