Openwave Mobility Anticipates Mobile Data Pricing and Video Optimization Trends for 2014

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--()--Openwave Mobility, a software innovator enabling operators to manage and monetize growth in mobile video and web traffic, has predicted what industry developments it expects to see in 2014.

Operators segment out mobile video and push QoE to the top of their priorities

John Giere, President & CEO: “In 2014, we’ll witness several innovative wireless operators offer mobile video streaming as a premium service by tonnage or by time, which is more intuitive for users. By segmenting out video streaming as U.S. wireless carrier C Spire has done, users will pay a premium for the service – whether it’s a two hour, five hour, or 10 hour pass – but they will always know what to expect on their monthly bills. On the other hand, subscribers who don’t stream mobile videos won’t have to pay for a service that they’re not going to use.

At the same time, users are paying for video streaming so they will not tolerate poor video quality. In fact, operator trials of our Congestion Control solution have found that users prefer watching mobile videos which play immediately and smoothly with no buffering, even at the expense of visual degradation. Otherwise, mobile users tend to abandon mobile content if the page is slow to load or constantly stutters. Operators will push mobile video optimization to the top of their priorities in order to ensure levels of QoE. By becoming contextually-aware, operators will be able to adapt to dynamic viewing conditions and provide the optimal user experience.

Mobile operators cannot continue providing video services at a price below their cost of carriage as many do today. Additionally, they must reduce subscriber churn and increase customer satisfaction while generating revenue. To do this, they must be even more transparent in terms of billing and customer interactions while providing the highest level of Quality of Experience possible.”

The boundaries between SDN and NFV will begin to blur

Indranil Chatterjee, VP of Product Management, Marketing & Strategy: In 2013, there was a huge amount of hype surrounding software defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). Vendors claimed their ground and established their initial strategies for the technologies. In the meantime, the collective market came up with unique and innovative use cases, potential benefits, and business justifications for using SDN and NFV. NFV began to experience rapid evolution at the heels of ETSI publishing the first standards in October which included key principles of SDN.

2014 is likely to see the lines between SDN and NFV blur even further. Although capable of working independently, the two concepts are so interrelated that their true potential can only be achieved when there’s synergy between both models. For example, dynamic resource orchestration and intelligent service orchestration can only be achieved through collaboration of both technologies, enabling increased network elasticity, improving service velocity down to mere minutes and improving service differentiation.

We will also see SDN and NFV business cases pivot more towards monetization through personalized service chaining and service velocity, proving to operators that there is real value within the technologies beyond the over-hyped benefits of cost-savings and network flexibility that are frequently cited.”

Unlimited data pricing strategies finally meet their timely death for all but budget carriers

Michael Rodgers, Senior Strategist: “The diversification of mobile data pricing has made the market more interesting and more varied. With the introduction of new mobile data pricing models such as shared data plans and QoS-based pricing, to application- and service-based pricing models, operators now have a plethora of options for creating new subscriber-friendly, ARPU-increasing data pricing models.

More and more operators such as Verizon and T-Mobile have finally done away with unlimited data packages. That is not to say that unlimited data will die off completely, but it will become the fall-back for budget carriers. These carriers either lack the technologies to introduce personalized data plans or they will attempt to disrupt established markets by turning back the clock to all-you-can-eat data plans in order to seize market share.

As the demand for mobile data services increase exponentially, larger wireless operators will be re-examining their strategies for data monetization. As the data pricing sector has evolved, they now have more sophisticated offerings from vendors and more operator case studies to examine. Whether it’s through offering subscribers a daily or weekly streaming video pass, or a better mobile experience for a premium, we’ll begin to see more operators leverage Policy Engagement and experiment with various mobile data pricing strategies in order to create more touch-points with subscribers and maximize ARPU.”

For more of Openwave Mobility’s perspectives on mobile video optimization and congestion control, download our whitepaper “Four Years of Video Optimization – What has the Industry Learned?” http://owmobility.com/whitepapers

Email owmbility@sonuspr.com to request an invitation to join our new LinkedIn Group “Mobile Video Optimization and Congestion Control” to stay up-to-date on industry trends and share your latest perspectives and resources.

About Openwave Mobility

Openwave Mobility enables operators to manage and monetize mobile data using the industry’s most scalable, Layer7 SDN/NFV enabled platform. The company operates within the policy control and charging (PCC) space and delivers Policy Engagement with solutions that include Video Optimization to eliminate data congestion, and Mobile Data Charging and Analytics to increase ARPU through personalized data plans. These solutions are supplemented by Subscriber Data Management, providing a single consolidated store for policy and subscriber data, and Mobile Analytics, providing subscriber segmentation and Business Intelligence.

Openwave Mobility delivers over 40 billion transactions daily and over half a billion subscribers worldwide use data services powered by its solutions. The company’s global customer base consists of over 40 of the largest communication service providers including AT&T, Du, KDDI, Rogers, Sprint, Telus, T-Mobile, Telefonica, Telstra, Virgin Mobile & Vodafone. Openwave Mobility is owned by Marlin Equity Partners, a leading investment firm with over a billion dollars of capital under management that has publicly committed to building the company through expanded investment in R&D. The company has built a robust portfolio of Intellectual Property, which is growing month by month.

Openwave Mobility and the Openwave Mobility logo are trademarks of Openwave Mobility Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

Contacts

Sonus PR for Openwave Mobility
Johnny Truong, +1 415-830-4530
Johnny.Truong@sonuspr.com

Contacts

Sonus PR for Openwave Mobility
Johnny Truong, +1 415-830-4530
Johnny.Truong@sonuspr.com