Allot: Operators embracing OTT, digital lifestyle services

A new report on mobile charging trends shows that mobile operators are collaborating with over-the-top providers and exploring new plan options that revolve around OTT apps, and they see higher ARPU and lower churn when they offer such plans.
“It seems the tide is beginning to turn as operators see that unique plans for popular apps and are valuable assets in local markets,” Allot Communications said in its report on its third survey of mobile charging trends. “OTTs have become more a friend than a foe. It is common to see operators offer zero-rated [free] Facebook or Twitter or WhatsApp. Change has come to the digital lifestyle ecosystem as OTTs and carriers work together to increase subscription and customer loyalty to both the app and the network that delivers it.
“Globally, operators offering application-centric plans have a higher average ARPU and a lower average churn rate. This significant finding is even more prevalent in developing countries.”
Allot found that 85% of operators were leveraging OTT apps to attract customers and increase ARPU, and 37% had at least one OTT partnership, up from 26% in 2012.
Facebook is the most popular application for app-centric plans, according to Yaniv Sulkes, AVP of marketing at Allot Communications, and is the most likely app to be offered on a zero-rated basis. 
Operators are also expanding their premium offerings or digital lifestyle services, such as streaming music or video, cloud storage, and location-based services included in plans. While only about a third of operators had such offerings in their plans in 2011, that number grew to 56% in 2012 and 85% in 2014, Allot reported. European operators were the most likely to offer premium services with their plans, with 63% having such options.
Meanwhile, some plan types that were very popular just a few years ago are largely extinct. Allot found that while 35% of operators had offered unlimited data plans in 2012, only 15% did so in 2014.
“Unlimited data plans are virtually gone — I don’t think that’s a surprise,” said Sulkes. He added that new trends include shared data plans, either based on one user with multiple devices or family plans in which there are multiple users sharing a set amount of data.
The continued expansion of LTE networks also influences operators’ charging structures, Sulkes said. In North America, he said, “LTE drove a lot of shared data because it proved more economical for operators to offer larger quotas to subscribers.” That equation is very different than shared data plans on 3G networks, Sulkes added.