Mobile Operator Guide - Innovation and Transformation

1
SAP Mobile Services
Mobile Operator Guide
Innovation and Transformation
Second Edition

12
Innovation and Transformation
SAP Mobile Services

32 Mobile Operator Guide Innovation and Transformation
Mobile Operator Guide Innovation and Transformation
Published by SAP Mobile Services
Sybase, an SAP Company
1 Sybase Drive
Dublin, CA 94568 USA
© 2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express
permission of SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company.
SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or
registered trademarks of SAP AG (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. Please see
http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx#trademark for additional trademark information
and notices. Some software products marketed by SAP AG and its distributors contain proprietary software components
of other software vendors.
National product specifications may vary.
These materials are provided by SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company for informational purposes only, without
representation or warranty of any kind, and SAP AG or its affiliated companies shall not be liable for errors or omissions
with respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP AG or SAP affiliate company products and services are those
that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein
should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.
In particular, SAP AG or its affiliated companies have no obligation to pursue any course of business outlined in this
document or any related presentation, or to develop or release any functionality mentioned therein. This document, or
any related presentation, and SAP AG’s or its affiliated companies’ strategy and possible future developments, products,
and/or platform directions and functionality are all subject to change and may be changed by SAP AG or its affiliated
companies at any time for any reason without notice. The information in this document is not a commitment, promise,
or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. All forward-looking statements are subject to various
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Readers are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates, and they should not be
relied upon in making purchasing decisions.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
SAP Mobile Services
Mobile Operator Guide: Innovation and Transformation
Edited by Charles Campbell-Jones
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-9885886-9-1
1. Mobile technology. 2. Mobile operators.
Library of Congress Control Number: #2014936712
Printed in the United States of America
Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced
or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
9 Simplifying Complexity Drives Innovation
By Sethu M, President, SAP Mobile Services
12 PART 1: INTRODUCTION
13 Seizing Opportunities in the Digital World
As communications service providers continue to face increased competition,
declining revenues, and margin pressure, they need to turn to new ideas to help
them achieve long-term success.
By Stephan Gatien, Global Head, Telecommunications Industry Business Unit, SAP
17 Worldwide Mobile Overview Trends
The mobile themes for 2014 are the continued adoption of mobile broadband,
the growth of connected devices in retail and the automotive sector, and the
strong growth of enterprise mobility.
By Courtney Munroe, Group Vice President, Worldwide Telecommunications, IDC
20 PART 2: 2014 THEMES
21 The Many Facets of LTE
LTE/4G is set to make a much bigger impact than 3G did. Consumers want
next-generation services, devices are ready, and operators will gain many new
benefits by moving to this next mobile standard.
By Diarmuid Mallon, Director, Global Marketing Solutions and Programs, Mobile, SAP
26 The IPX, LTE, and RCS: The Trifecta for Mobile Operator Success
Mobile operators are poised to take on the OTTs through next-generation data services.
By Matthew Tonkin, Vice President Sales, SAP Mobile Services
32 Blurring the Lines Between A2P and P2P Messaging
SMS hubbing is evolving, and messaging capabilities and subscriber
messaging plans will need to adapt.
By William Dudley, Group Director, Mobile Evangelist and Global Solutions,
SAP Mobile Services

38 Deriving Value from Big Data
The amount of data being collected by mobile operators is accumulating
fast. Operators now need to realize the full value of this store of information
and start monetizing it.
By Kevin Outcalt, Vice President, Mobile Analytics and Consumer Insight,
SAP Mobile Services
42 PART 3: EMEA
43 EMEA’s Rapidly Changing Market
Regional differences are still prevalent when it comes to mobile communications.
The issues, challenges, and opportunities facing the countries of Europe, the Middle
East, and Africa (EMEA) are unique to the region.
By Mark Weait, Vice President, SAP Mobile Services
48 VoLTE: An Essential Part of Every Operator’s LTE Strategy
VoLTE will continue to make steady progress, and 2014 is likely to be a
big year for deployments.
By Dan Warren, Senior Director of Technology, GSMA
51 Multimedia Content on LTE Devices
Can mobile service providers get a piece of the pie?
By Michael Van Veen, Group Director IPX, SAP Mobile Services
54 SMS Monetization
Simplify your SMS business model with the right partner to ensure
maximum SMS monetization.
By Toni Eid, Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Telecom Review
58 Maintaining Privacy in the Age of Big Data
Mobile networks are producing huge amounts of data on consumer behavior and
habits which are a treasure trove to marketers looking to understand and capture
new customers. How do you balance this “big data” influx with customer privacy?
By Guy Rolfe, Head of Global Mobile Practice, Kantar
61 The IPX: The Time is Now
High-speed networks, new-capabilities devices, new competition from online
service providers, and more demand for IP-based services are challenging the
status quo. The IPX is part of the solution.
By Philippe Bellordre, Project Manager, Future of Interconnect, GSMA
65 LTE Roaming Market Developments
Look for 2014 to be the year when LTE roaming becomes a crucial element
of LTE network monetization across Europe.
By Dimitris Mavrakis, Principal Analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media
70 Have Operators Decoupled Themselves from the Reality of New
Roaming Regulation?
Operators could be looking at changes to roaming regulation as a chance
to drive mobile broadband usage, but they’re far from ready.
By Ian Grant, Mobile Europe
74 Data Collection’s Changing Regulations
The European Union is looking to change and improve rules around collecting
and sharing mobile consumer data. Mobile marketing has a lot at stake. If done
correctly, it can fulfill the promise of one-to-one marketing.
By Paul Berney, Co-Founder and Managing Partner EMEA, mCordis
78 PART 4: AMERICAS
79 Mobile Market Activity in the Americas 2013
Mobile industry continues to expand the subscriber base, add new services,
and show revenue gains.
By William Dudley, Group Director, Mobile Evangelist and Global Solutions,
SAP Mobile Services

83 US LTE Market Offers 4G Test Lab
The US mobile market has emerged as a valuable stage for testing the
dynamics of LTE-driven competition.
By Rich Karpinski, Senior Analyst, Yankee Group
89 The Skies Clear for IPX Delivery of Cloud-Based Services
The IPX establishes the network connectivity and the necessary quality for
cloud-based services – and it reduces time to market and decreases initial
capital investments.
By Rich Lindstrom, Sales and Business Development, IPX/RCS/LTE Roaming,
SAP Mobile Services
92 Ramping Up LTE in Latin America
Telefónica is in the early stages of building out its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network
in Latin America, a market poised to grow by leaps and bounds in the next five years.
By Pablo Alfageme, Head of Business Development, Latin America, Telefónica
Global Roaming, Telefónica
96 Exploiting the Operator Big-Data Dilemma for the Future Digital Economy
Mobile changes consumer behaviors.
By Sheryl Kingstone, Director, Mobile Leadership Strategies, Yankee Group
102 Scam-Busters
How SMS phishing uses area codes in credit union, bank, and child support scams.
By Neil Cook, Chief Technology Officer, Cloudmark
108 The Next Wave of Text Messaging
Get ready to communicate via SMS to any phone number, whether it’s mobile,
landline, or toll free, and from non-phone devices like your PC, laptop, tablet, and TV.
By John Lauer, CEO, Zipwhip
112 Move Over SMS, Here Comes RCS
Mobile operators are planning for Rich Communications Services to regain
market share lost to free over-the-top services. It’s time to put aside competition
and co-operate over standards and internetworking.
By Adrian Synal, Principal Engineer, System Design and Strategy, T-Mobile USA
116 OTTs Take Up the Mantle of Communications Innovation
With texting and chatting becoming free commodities, how do over-the-top
players innovate and stand out in a crowded field?
By Greg Woock, Co-Founder and CEO, Pinger
120 PART 5: ASIA
121 Asia-Pacific Stays in Front of the Telecoms Race
Operators respond to declining revenues and increasing competition from OTT
providers with LTE roaming, RCS, and monetization of mobile consumer data to
stay ahead of the game.
125 VoLTE and RCS: Network Evolution and Services Revolution
Elements and roadmap for successful implementation of VoLTE and RCS.
By Sachin Bagul, Senior Manager, Product Strategy and Marketing,
Mavenir Systems
128 Best Practices for LTE Roaming
Six technology and operational considerations for operators undertaking LTE roaming.
By Russell J. Green, CTO and Vice President Technology Group,
SAP Mobile Services
132 LTE Roaming Grows in Singapore
Roaming represents a growth area for mobile operators, who see LTE as a
way to meet the diverse needs of a wide variety of subscribers, including the
budget-conscious as well as the tech-savvy.
By William Ku, General Manager, International Business, StarHub Ltd
136 The Wide, Wide World of the IPX
The IPX delivers end-to-end management and quality of service for voice
and other essential IP services such as roaming for high-speed mobile data.

Simplifying Complexity Drives Innovation
By Sethu M, President, SAP Mobile Services
We have always lived in a world of complex systems. Our ecosystem’s
diversity is unique, and that variety makes for some lively debates
among its constituents. As always, we are evolving by sharing our
points of view and our ideas, creating new perspectives while
debating the merits of them. This makes complex things simple
and simple things automatic.
FOREWORD
This guide helps to evolve complex systems
by bringing together new perspectives and
different points of view. We have rounded
up thought leaders from every region of
the telecoms ecosystem to analyze what
has happened in the recent past and to
look forward to what is coming our way.
Amid the differences, there is consensus
that change is the overarching theme.
The telecoms sector reinvests 15% of its
revenue into research and development.
Only one other industry, pharmaceuticals,
pours more into R&D. You can see the
evidence of these investments in the fast-
paced developments of 2G, 3G, and now 4G.
As we move to 4G, competition will become
more heated. The up-and-coming initiatives
of Rich Communications Services (RCS),
LTE roaming, Voice over LTE (VoLTE), and
P2P and A2P messaging will blur the lines
between traditional service providers and
over-the-top players while adding complex-
ity to integration, product management,
and pricing. Operators will constantly be
140 Asian Giants Catching Up with the Global LTE Leaders
LTE continues to gain converts as it moves across continents picking up
subscribers. One-third of the subscribers are in China and India.
By Sohag Sarkar, Manager, Strategy and Operation – Technology,
Media and Telecom, KPMG Advisory Services
150 Tapping Into the Data
Axiata is embarking on a project to put its wealth of customer data to work.
By Karan Henrik Ponnudurai, Chief Innovation Officer, Axiata Digital
154 Contributor Companies
160 Acknowledgements

balancing between collaborating with
their partners-sometimes-competitors to
improve their position and at other times
flying solo to move to the front of the pack.
This guide will help everyone in the telecoms
ecosystem better understand the coming
mobile services from both a technical and
an industry perspective. You will get an
up-close-and-personal look at the innova-
tion and transformation that is happening
today among mobile operators, providers,
and their partners from an international
team of contributors.
Long Term Evolution: Ready for
4G and beyond
If you’re curious about LTE, read about this
“next big thing” from all sides; what it means
for consumers, operators, the ecosystem,
and technology in “The Many Facets of LTE.”
For an interesting overview of upcoming
services available through LTE read “IPX,
LTE, and RCS: The Trifecta for Mobile
Operator Success.”And to get a market
backdrop, Yankee analyst Rich Karpinski
weighs in on LTE in the Americas (“US LTE
Market Offers 4G Test Lab”), while KPMG’s
Sohag Sarkar brings an Asian perspective
to LTE (“Asian Giants Catching Up with
the Global LTE Leaders”).
Freedom to roam
New subscribers to LTE will move frequently
across networks. LTE roaming is a must-have,
and work is underway to make the service
seamless; Informa analyst Dimitris Mavrakis
tackles the global market (“LTE Roaming
Market Developments”), while StarHub’s
William Ku describes what is happening in
his own backyard (“LTE Roaming Grows in
Singapore”). And, take a practical, real-world
view in “Best Practices for LTE Roaming.”
Services with long-term appeal
LTE subscribers will expect familiar stand-
ards like voice and text as well as options
for video chat, location services, and
presence. Mavenir Systems' Sachin Bagul
looks at another service enabled by LTE,
VoLTE (“VoLTE and RCS: Network Evolution
and Services Revolution”), and the GSMA’s
Dan Warren adds his voice to its future
(“VoLTE: An Essential Part of Every Opera-
tor’s LTE Strategy”). New services such
as RCS promise to return to operators
revenues that over-the-top players have
been siphoning off. T-Mobile’s Adrian Synal
sees RCS gaining prominence over the
familiar SMS a few years out (“Move Over
SMS; Here Comes RCS”).
Get the benefits of membership
at the hub
Underpinning all these services is hubbing.
The GSMA’s Philippe Bellordre makes a
case for IPX hubbing in “The IPX: The Time
is Now.”We also look at successes hubs are
having with messaging in “Blurring the Lines
Between A2P and P2P Messaging.” Still
think hubs are onerous? In “Scam-Busters,”
Cloudmark’s Neil Cook describes how hubs
add a layer of protection that can help oper-
ators pursue and catch targeted phishing.
Analytics that influence
and motivate
Gathering consumer insight is always a con-
versation starter. Mobile operators have
access to an incredible amount of data. How
can the ecosystem leverage this information
in ways that appeal to consumers and main-
tain their privacy? Kantor’s Guy Rolfe takes
that topic on in“Maintaining Privacy in the
Age of Big Data.”As the rules around big data
are changing rapidly, Paul Berney of mCordis
offers an update on potential European
changes that could have global impacts.
As you can see, there’s something here for
everyone. We have a vibrant set of voices
in the telecom community with plenty of
opinions and ideas. If you have something
you want to add to the conversation, go to
http://bit.ly/1hry3fn
Enjoy.
Sethu M. is President of SAP Mobile
Services. With more than 25 years of
experience in enterprise system software
development and management, Sethu is
focused on finding opportunities that extend
customers’ strategic goals. His work with
customers includes providing technology
industry intelligence, managing business
services and IT assets, and leveraging tech-
nology trends and SAP’s new technologies
in big data, mobile, machine to machine,
information management, and social media.

Today’s digital ecosystem provides many
ways to make our lives easier. Whether it’s
getting directions from the latest smart-
phone or being able to use a mobile wallet,
things we could only imagine just a few
years ago are now possible.
This new digital world offers great opport-
unities for communications service provid-
ers, and a number of major operators
around the world have already created
separate entities focusing specifically on
digital services. AT&T Digital Life, Telefónica
Digital, and SingTel’s Group Digital Life are
just few examples of large industry players
that are actively looking for ways to grab
a bigger share of the digital pie.
However, to date, the most successful
digital services have come from non-
traditional players such as Google, Apple,
and Facebook, the so-called over-the-top
(OTT) providers that have been able
to quickly develop, release, and gain
broad adoption of new and interesting
services. By doing so, they have been
able to reinforce the image of telecom
companies as just a “dumb pipe” provider
with limited innovation power.
It is crucial for communications service
providers to dispel this notion in order
to establish themselves profitably as the
epicenter of the new digital economy. Here
are a few key areas where established com-
munications service providers can stake
their claim in the digital world:
Going over the top
Communications service providers have
had to deal with OTT players for several
years now – social media apps such as
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; commu-
nications upstarts such as WhatsApp, Viber,
Skype, and Snapchat; video alternatives
such as Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube (owned
Seizing Opportunities
in the Digital World
As communications service providers continue to face increased
competition, declining revenues, and margin pressure, they need
to turn to new ideas to help them achieve long-term success.
By Stephan Gatien, Global Head, Telecommunications Industry
Business Unit, SAP
PART 1:
INTRODUCTION
PART 1: INTRODUCTION

by Google). The OTT threat has been some-
thing to take seriously, diverting billions of
revenue from them in the recent years.
The very recent acquisitions of WhatsApp
and Viber (by Facebook and Rakuten respec-
tively) clearly demonstrate that the pressure
exerted by large OTT players will continue to
increase as consolidation takes place.
But telecoms operators are in a bit of a conun-
drum regarding these companies, which use
existing mobile infrastructure to get their
services to customers. Do they go head-to-
head against the OTT players, or do they
instead strike a“co-opetition”deal and work
alongside them to reap some of the benefits?
On the partnership side, communications
service providers may want to consider
agreements that complement their existing
offerings rather than those that involve com-
peting products. In return, operators can
consider opening their networks via APIs to
monetize their network and customer data.
Operators are also looking at launching their
own OTT services to secure additional revenue
streams. But due to the inroads already made
by established OTT players, getting these
services off the ground may be difficult. If they
are to succeed, operators should make sure to
differentiate their services and the value they
provide to the customer.
Aiming for the cloud
Another big opportunity to create new
revenue streams for communications
service providers is in the area of cloud
services. Over the past several years,
the telecoms industry has seen a number
of cloud-based acquisitions and partner-
ships; for example, NTT acquired Virtela
and RagingWire. Operators have also
been bolstering their portfolios by offering
enterprises services such asinfrastructure-
as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service
(PaaS), application hosting, data center
capabilities, and unified communications.A
case in point is Telefónica, which has launched
IaaS for mobile, enterprise, and M2M.
The cloud makes a lot of sense for telecom
operators, which will be able to fully leverage
the platform for seamless, integrated any-
time-and-anywhere services and content.
Looking forward, operators have the poten-
tial to evolve into cloud “rainmakers” due
to their perfect positioning to serve the
B2B cloud market, horizontally for specific
segments such as SMB, functionally with
dedicated functional services such as HR
or procurement, or vertically with cloud-
based industry specific scenarios.They are
also in a perfect position to enable B2B2C
scenarios. By extending their network
management capabilities into a cloud
management and delivery infrastructure,
service providers can establish themselves
as trusted partners for cloud services.
Making sense of big data
In a connected society, as the volume of
data being collected continues to grow
dramatically, gaining insight from this “big
data” represents a formidable opportunity
for communications service providers.
On one hand, this insight can have a direct
impact on the quality and level of personal-
ization of each customer experience. By
analyzing the services consumed by sub-
scribers, the network experience they get
while using the service, and the devices
they use to do so, service providers can learn
how to best interact with each customer and
how to tailor unique offers and activities
to each individual.
On the other hand, opportunities will
increasingly emerge to monetize the data
collected by service providers in domains
such as subscriber behavior, services
consumed, and geo-location activities.
Despite the sensitivity of some of this data,
it is widely believed that the data mone-
tization space can represent a significant
new revenue stream for telecoms opera-
tors. Initially, subscriber opt-in models or
anonymized and aggregated insight (for
example, by geo-location fence and time
slice) will likely represent the most effective
strategy for communications service pro-
viders to start their journey in this domain.
The center of the digital universe
Communications service providers have
a distinct advantage in the digital world.
Most of them have strong name recogn-
ition, are trusted partners, and hold close
relationships with their customers. But
to fend off advances by aggressive new
entrants or OTT players and reverse
the trend of declining revenues in their

The mobile sector has become the most
important global communications medium,
generating over 60% of global networking
revenues in 2013. Most importantly, mobile
technology and adoption is a dynamic
cultural and socio-economic phenomenon.
The proliferation of connected devices, in
part facilitated by the mobile infrastructure,
will transform all industries and human insti-
tutions for decades into the future. During
2014, key mobile themes will include the
continued adoption of mobile broadband,
the growth of connected devices in retail
and the automotive sector, and the strong
growth of enterprise mobility.
The mobile market continues its steady
growth, and IDC is projecting continued
annual growth in subscriptions of 6% over
the next five years. Global mobile subscrib-
ers will grow from 6.6 billion at the end of
2013 to 8.5 billion by the end of 2017.
This growth is driven by the increasingly
popularity of smartphones, which will
top one billion units shipped during 2013.
Smartphones comprised 55% of all mobile
phones shipped in 2013, and will continue
to increase their market share. Asia-Pacific
will continue its reign as the overall market
leader; sheer size, first-time user oppor-
tunity, ongoing replacements, and an
appetite for smartphones are the factors
driving volumes in this region. Europe,
the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) will
follow next with just over a quarter of all
mobile phone shipments. Latin America
will extend its lead over North America in
2014, while North America will show flat
growth throughout the forecast period.
Broadband-capable devices will have a
tremendous impact on the overall mobile
ecosystem. This is evolving from the con-
sumer to the enterprise sector as well,
where a“mobile-first”strategy of deploying
mobile devices to the workforce is emerging.
3G phones will still represent the majority
of all mobile phones shipped until 2015,
but with more 4G networks going live, the
number of 4G mobile phones is expected
to grow 10 times faster than mobile devices
overall. Mobile operators are working fever-
ishly to keep up with demand of mobile data
traffic, which IDC estimates will grow nine-fold
over the next few years,from approximately
100 MB to 1 GB per month per subscriber by
Worldwide Mobile Overview Trends
The mobile themes for 2014 are the continued adoption of mobile
broadband, the growth of connected devices in retail and the
automotive sector, and the strong growth of enterprise mobility.
By Courtney Munroe, Group Vice President, Worldwide Telecommunications, IDC
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
core business of voice and messaging,
they need to think outside the box and
reinvent themselves.
The strategies outlined are just a few of
the options available to telecoms providers
to establish themselves at the center of the
digital world and to transform. The potential
rewards are huge but the risks of commoditi-
zation are real. It is time to be bold.
Stephan Gatien is Global Head of the
Telecommunications Business Unit at SAP.
In that capacity, he is responsible for the
vertical portfolio strategy in Telecommu-
nications, oversees related solution man-
agement activities, and leads the industry
go-to-market initiatives globally. He has
a broad background both in the commu-
nications industry, including assignments
for wireless carriers, and in SAP, including
assignments in Corporate Strategy, Sales,
Solution Management, and Operations.
Share your comments, thoughts,
and updates to this article — join the
conversation here: http://bit.ly/1iuPUAB
By analyzing the
services consumed by
subscribers, the network
experience they get while
using the service, and the
devices they use to do
so, service providers can
learn how to best interact
with each customer and
how to tailor unique
offers and activities to
each individual.

2015.According to the Global Mobile Suppliers
Association (GSA),as ofJanuary 2013 there
were a total of 145 LTE networks operating
in 66 countries. This is expected to grow to
over 200 networks commercially launched
in 75 countries by the end of 2013.
TV everywhere: The impact of video
The ongoing strong global demand for
smartphones and media tablets continues
to grow the addressable market for mobile
and multiscreen video services, and con-
sumers adopting these devices have been
increasingly using them to access video
content both streamed and downloaded
from the internet. Consumer video services
continue to evolve beyond traditional con-
sumption platforms. In China, more than
30% of users consume more content online
than over broadcast networks. Online, or
over-the-top (OTT), services have moved
well beyond the PC as smartphones and
tablets reshape the consumer internet.
At the same time, multichannel pay TV
services, previously tethered to the tele-
vision typically via a set-top box, are now
moving toward PC, smartphone, and tablet
distribution as part of TV Everywhere (TVE)
strategies. On a global level, by the end of
2012 over 180 million mobile phone and
tablet owners used their devices on at least
a monthly basis to stream TV shows and
movies. Viewers of downloaded TV shows
and movies topped 94.2 million smart-
phone and 35.7 million tablet users.These
numbers will continue to grow as more
operators implement Rich Communications
Services (RCS).
Big data and business analytics have been
adopted by many mobile operators to help
them clarify a diverse list of issues. These
include internal issues such as network
performance and customer experience,
as well as external, customer-facing issues
such as transforming call detail record
(CDR) and end-usage patterns into new
revenue-generating services. Operators
have a wealth of data available at their
disposal, including CDRs, transactions,
customer correspondences, and GPS and
Wi-Fi usage data. Another major source of
data that is being actively mined is social
media, such as Twitter and Facebook.
Early adopters include Telefónica Digital,
which has introduced Smart Steps, a
product that leverages anonymized and
aggregated mobile network data to
provide extrapolated demographic data
which can then be sold to enterprises and
government agencies. Verizon Mobile’s
Precision Market Insights also leverages
anonymized mobile data to help the retail
sector refine its marketing strategies.
During 2014 the Internet of Things will
have a profound impact on the mobile eco-
system. Several verticals will lead this revo-
lution, including connected automobiles and
consumer wearables and the connection
of smart cities. IDC is projecting, by 2020,
a market of 30 billion connected devices
which will in turn spawn a rich market of
supporting devices, applications, connect-
ivity, and IT support services.
Mobility in the enterprise segment will
continue to evolve during 2014.“Bring
your own device” (BYOD) will give way to a
more manageable “choose your own device”
(CYOD) from a restricted pool of corporate
supported devices. As the mobile-first
strategy gains momentum in the enterprise
segment, an integrated approach to manag-
ing mobile devices and applications will be
important to companies. While the initial
customer hook may be around a point
solution, the core components of mobile
enterprise software – security, manage-
ment, and apps / app development – are
rapidly converging, and as the enterprise
mobility market matures customers are
going to be looking for companies that
can provide them with a solution-oriented
approach. Most importantly, mobility will be
an integral aspect of Enterprise IT, one that
shares the same roadmap as cloud and
network and infrastructure.
Courtney Munroe manages global telecom-
munications research at IDC. This includes
end-user consumer and enterprise demand-
side trends, as well as CSP strategies and
transformation. He has more than 20 years’
experience as an industry analyst and con-
sultant, and is a frequent speaker at industry
events around the world.Twitter: @ccmunroe
conversation on SAP Mobile Services
community here: http://bit.ly/1d6eGYu

LTE, short for Long Term Evolution, is the
next big thing. It’s a part of 4G, the fourth
generation of mobile technology. Carriers
around the world have upgraded – or are in
the process of upgrading – their networks
to the new technology.
In many ways it could not have come at
a more appropriate point in time. Develop-
ed markets are at saturation point, with
100%–plus market penetration rates, and
operators facing both price erosion and
competition from new non-telco entrants
into the mobile ecosystem. Against this
background, current networks are at times
overloaded for voice and data services as
available capacity is taken up by increased
use of smartphones and apps. And finally,
in highly regulated markets (such as the EU)
new pricing pressures are put on many
services and in particular on reducing
the costs for roamers.
While some past technologies have seemed
to be answers to questions no one is asking,
it seems that LTE is the answer (nearly) to
all of these challenges.
The consumer side
For consumers there are many clear
advantages to moving to these new 4G/
LTE networks.
They will be able to stream music and
video, upload, download, and essentially
do anything on the Web using mobile
devices almost as fast as if they were at
home on a (fixed) broadband connection.
PART 2: 2014 Themes
The Many Facets of LTE
LTE/4G is set to make a much bigger impact than 3G
did. Consumers want next-generation services, devices
are ready, and operators will gain many new benefits by
moving to this next mobile standard.
By Diarmuid Mallon, Director, Global Marketing Solutions
and Programs, Mobile, SAP
PART 2:
2014 THEMES
Developed markets are at saturation point, with
100%-plus market penetration rates, and operators
facing both price erosion and competition from new
non-telco entrants into the mobile ecosystem.

This standard, unlike previous ones, is not
just focused on improving download speed,
but has been designed to improve upload
speed too. It supports a theoretical peak
upload limit of 50 Mbps, orders of magni-
tude faster than what you get from 3G.
LTE’s faster potential upload and download
speed (100 Mbps or more), in turn, will give
application developers more options for
creating better user experiences on mobile
for gaming, banking, socializing, shopping,
watching videos, and more via the Web or
apps. So in the future, when you use mobile
banking you will be able to have a live video
chat with an advisor about which loan is
best for you, or doctors will be able to use
telepresence on their mobile to provide con-
sultations to patients anywhere on the globe.
How will LTE change the oldest telephony
service: voice? With 3G, voice calls over
a mobile phone are circuit switched,
which means there is a dedicated circuit-
to-voice session. So, even when you’re not
talking the resources are dedicated to your
conversation, eating up limited bandwidth
and increasing the chance that the network
will run out of capacity. If you’ve ever tried to
make a call in a crowded space like a music
festival,where too many people have to share
the available bandwidth, then you know
the pain of not being able to make a call.
LTE, on the other hand, supports packet
voice (Voice over LTE, or VoLTE). This
is a fundamental shift, and will improve
network capacity because operators can
share packet voice links between many
communication sessions and conversa-
tions. At a crowded music festival, LTE
can shuffle and re-allocate bandwidth in
real time between many different callers.
In effect, the pregnant pause in your con-
versation doesn’t waste bandwidth.
The operator’s side
From the operator perspective, LTE has a
number of other advantages, most notably
speed and efficiency. 4G will change both
the radio interface and the core network
that operators currently use for their 3G
networks. LTE is an all-IP network, similar
to the internet but with better reliability
and quality of service. It improves call
set-up time. It has a higher data-carrying
capacity and a higher spectral efficiency.
It also lowers the cost-per-bit for operators.
LTE is important for operators for two
main reasons then. First, it will increase
the efficiency of their entire network.
Second, it will make their operations
easier and less expensive to manage.
Greater interoperability
LTE changes the telecoms ecosystem on
two more abstract levels that will affect the
dynamics of the industry. First, LTE is the
new common standard for further evolution
of competing groups of telecom technolo-
gies such as GSM and CDMA. Verizon is
a CDMA operator and AT&T is GSM, so in
the new LTE world these two operators will
be operating on the same technological
standard. Even non-3GPP access technolo-
gies such as Wi-Fi complement LTE through
Hotspot 2.0 air interface, and these can be
imagined to interwork with LTE to enable
seamless data access for the customer.
And second, in the LTE world operators will
have to rely more on competitor networks
to enable efficient roaming.
Smarter roaming
Just as subscribers expect their data ser-
vice to be available when they roam, they
will expect the same for new 4G services.
With current networks, roaming is (basic-
ally) limited to just three elements: voice,
messaging, and data. How each of them is
handled is independent, and often in what
looks to be a fairly arcane manner. If you
told two tourists on vacation that when
they text each other, even when they’re
sat next to each other, their text messages
traveled all the way back to the home
country before being sent, or the even
(potentially) longer route mobile data goes,
then they would be amazed. LTE enables
If you told two tourists on vacation that when they
text each other, even when they’re sat next to each
other, their text messages traveled all the way back
to the home country before being sent, or the even
(potentially) longer route mobile data goes, then
they would be amazed.

operators to rely more on visited networks
to enable efficient roaming.
Operators will be able to offload roaming
traffic to local operators rather than carry it
around the globe. However, that can only work
if there are systems supporting local offload
and, more importantly, there is a higher level
of trust and co-operation among operators.
With the increase of subscriber-facing
services, we really need to think about
service-based roaming. When you roam,
video (sharing), location, presence, IM,
and HD voice will now be available, in
addition to voice, messaging, and data.
Simplifying infrastructure
The traditional approach to adding a new
service to a mobile network was to purchase
a new network element and install it in your
switch. While this approach was great for
core services, there were challenges when
it came to services whose demand was hard
to predict, and it of course required opera-
tors to keep making capital expenditure.
Now with LTE (and new infrastructure
such as the IPX), there is the opportunity
to simplify the network.
Moving to an all-IP network enables opera-
tors to create architecturally flat networks,
with few network elements in the call (sorry,
data) path, which reduces cost, decreases
latency, and improves reliability.
Operators will also be able to move services
completely out of their networks, as the new
architectures support cloud-based services.
Moving services outside the cloud started
with services such as SMS hubbing, but now
the entire service can move away from the
operators’ switch to the cloud.
Rich Communications Services (RCS)
looks to be one of the first of the services
that operators will deploy, but more will
come. While operator services will be the
first to go this way, the IPX enables services
for enterprises such as video streaming to
move also to the (telco) cloud.
New services
New services such as RCS have already got-
ten a fair amount of coverage, but LTE has
provision for other new services. One of the
more interesting of these is LTE Broadcast.
Cell congestion is always a challenge, and
particularly at large sporting events or
concerts where you have a large number
of people concentrated in a relatively small
area. Temporary cells and even blocking
certain sites or streaming are all approaches
operators take to help maintain service.
LTE Broadcast enables operators to broad-
cast, much like traditional TV services, to
alldeviceswithacell.Now,ratherthanworry-
ing about bandwidth issues, subscribers in
the stadium could be offered camera feeds,
play guides, or even “referee cam” direct
to their phone.
Prime time for 4G
LTE/4G is set to make a greater impact
that any of the previous generational leaps
managed. With the previous jumps, either
the technology or the consumer was not
ready, and so a hard sell was needed.
2.5G came with neither the right devices
nor the actual capabilities to match the
hype. Similarly, 3G was launched ahead
of devices needed to make it a success
and (to the consumer) seemed fixated
on services that were of limited interest.
But LTE/4G is different. Consumers
(and many smartphones) are looking for
network capabilities way ahead of what
current net-works can deliver; moving
to an all-IP network finally enables
operators to simplify networks and not
add incremental complexity. Finally, the
technology will enable operators to create
new services to meet consumer demand
and regulatory requirements.
Diarmuid Mallon is Director for Global
Marketing Solutions and Programs at
SAP. This encompasses all mobile-related
products and solutions from SAP, including
the Mobile Services division. He has worked
in mobile messaging for more than 18 years,
in a wide range of roles from business
development to product evangelism.
Follow him on twitter @diarmuidmallon
and read his blog: www.zdnet.com/
topic-ubermobile
community here: http://bit.ly/1nxaOnv
Consumers (and many smartphones) are looking for network
capabilities way ahead of what current networks can deliver;
moving to an all-IP network finally enables operators to
simplify networks and not add incremental complexity.

Being a traditional mobile operator hasn’t
been easy during the last decade. While
smartphone and mobile app sales continue
to rise, mobile operators have seen voice
and SMS revenues decline. Subscribers are
moving to an all-data model for services and
content. Add to the mix over-the-top (OTT)
players, whose voice and video apps bypass
the traditional wireless networks, and you
can see why operators’ existing business
models are suffering. Thus, as communica-
tions habits change, operators are respond-
ing with new business models and strategies
to win back subscribers and add revenue.
Getting on board with the IPX
As the mobile industry enters this new
phase of all data packet networks, launch-
ing LTE services in their home country,
mobile operators are migrating both tra-
ditional (that is, voice) services and new
data services to all data packet networks.
For international connectivity, IPX
networks are facilitating this migration.
Navigating Complexity: The Quest for True
IPX,1
a survey of 170 respondents employed
in the wireless, wireline, integrated, wholesale,
and other telecom sectors, and released by
Telecom Asia / TelecomsEMEA in October
2013, found that just over half (55%) have
connected to an IPX network. Of those,
almost 80% have deployed Voice over IPX,
and almost half have deployed other services
such as SMS and video (fig. 1). Looking at
the respondents who said they had not con-
nected to any IPX network yet, only 12% had
immediate plans to do so, while almost half
(48%) were looking at 1-3 years down the
road and the rest either 4-5 years in the
future (15%) or never (25%).
Unfortunately, the IPX still causes a lot of
confusion in the industry, and it is often
defined depending on whether you’re
coming from the data side or the voice side.
But no matter your position, IPX networks –
the ability to run multiple services over
a single IP connection in a highly secure
environment – have matured to wide-
scale adoption. Among the many services
The IPX, LTE, and RCS: The Trifecta
for Mobile Operator Success
Mobile operators are poised to take on the OTTs
through next-generation data services.
Have you connected to an IPX network?
Figure 1. More than half of survey respondents said they have connected to an IPX, and of those a vast majority have
launched Voice over IPX, with SMS and video also proving popular.
Based on data from Telecom Asia / TelecomsEMEA.
FOOTNOTEs
1. John C. Tanner and Michael Carroll, Navigating Complexity: The Quest for True IPX,
Telecom Asia / TelecomsEMEA (October 2013): http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/
story/navigating-complexity-quest-true-ipx
PART 2: 2014 Themes
This year 1-3 years
4-5 years Never
If no, when do you plan to
connect through IPX?
If yes, what services have you
deployed through the IPX?
12%
55.6% 44.4%
X√
14.8%
28.4%
Diameter
79.5%
Voice
Fraud
Detection45.5%
SMS
42%
Video
40.9%
GRX
22.7%
M2M
35.2%
SIGTRAN
48%
15% 25%

supported across the IPX, LTE roaming
has been a key driver towards adoption.
LTE lights the way for
next-gen data services
LTE deployments are starting to proliferate
globally. The past 18 months have been
extremely active for LTE network deploy-
ments in Asia and the United States, with
operators in many countries taking their
networks live. The Middle East has been
seeing deployments for about the past 9-12
months, and there will be LTE launches in the
Europe and Latin America throughout 2014.
While most operators focus to launch their
domestic LTE rollouts first, they are also
looking toward roaming as a critical piece
of the high-speed data puzzle. About one-
third of the respondents to the Telecom
Asia / TelecomsEMEA survey said they
could offer LTE roaming at launch.Almost
one-quarter said they would be able to offer
it within a year of launching LTE, and 10%
said it would take them over a year to
get to that point (fig. 2).
Just as with voice roaming, data roaming
over LTE promises to be a revenue generat-
ing opportunity for mobile operators, but
it’s not without its challenges. Operators –
preferably upon launch – need to have
partners in place in selected countries.
Rather than taking a blanket approach, they
should strategically focus on countries and
network affiliates that will help them
get immediate returns.
LTE roaming is still in its early stages, and it
is inconsistent across regions. For example,
LTE operates at different frequencies in
different parts of the world. In the United
States, it runs in the 700-800 MHz range,
while in Europe and Asia LTE operates at
1800-2600 MHz. For roaming to be effective,
networks need to be able to work on the
New revenue stream
69.5%
Figure 3. Rich Communications Services is being viewed by a majority of operators as a way to generate additional revenue,
with some also seeing it as a key competitive advantage.
What do you see as the main driver for RCS?
Other
1.5%
Fight off OTT
29%
Figure 2. As LTE roaming becomes an important revenue source, more than half of survey respondents said they would
offer roaming either at the same time as their commercial LTE launch or within one year.
Once you deploy LTE, when will you offer LTE roaming?
Not applicableAfter one year
of launch of LTE
Within one year
of launch of LTE
Commerically ready
and can offer from
the start
34% 23% 10% 33%

same frequency. Thankfully, handset manu-
facturers have developed devices that work
across multiple frequencies, helping LTE
to reach across borders and networks.
Banking on RCS
Once operators have built out their LTE net-
works and formed partnerships for roaming,
the next step is to leverage the high-speed
capabilities with next-generation services.
Rich Communications Services (RCS)
enables operators to deliver new services,
and new revenues, through the offering of
OTT-like services to their subscribers.
In the Telecom Asia / TelecomsEMEA survey,
almost 70% of respondents viewed creating
new revenue streams as the main driver of
implementing RCS, while about 30% viewed
fighting off OTT as the main driver (fig. 3).
WhatsApp, Viber, and Skype are a handful of
the free OTT apps that enable voice, video,
and instant messaging without traversing
the traditional mobile network. Mobile
operators find themselves at crossroads
where they have to choose between partner-
ing with OTTs and competing against them.
For now, they will likely do both, and the
challenge is to build a compelling business
case to invest in RCS.
Even if operators develop services that are
similar to what the OTTs are offering, why
should consumers give up their free apps
to pay for a similar service from operators?
Actually, operators can make a strong case
to their subscribers. OTT apps generally
require that each party download the app
in order for a call or text to be sent between
them – each app is essentially a disparate
island that doesn’t interconnect. A carrier’s
RCS service, on the other hand, being
standards-based, would work across differ-
ent handsets and networks. The GSMA has
released joyn, an RCS technical standard
that simplifies real-time data communica-
tions through mobile devices. More than a
dozen operators around the world and lead-
ing handset manufacturers support joyn.
Another advantage for operators is the
billing and customer service relationship
they have with their customers. With this
key relationship with their subscribers,
operators have the opportunity to price
a small premium for RCS services.
RCS is still in its very early days, but opera-
tors and regions are aggressively pursuing
deployments. The US and North Asian
(Korea, Japan) markets are stepping up
to take the lead, with operators already
offering commercial services.
The proliferation of faster networks, the
availability of advanced handsets, and the
development and rollout of new services
will enable mobile operators to recapture
the leadership position in the digital world.
Matthew Tonkin is Vice President for
Asia-Pacific, including Japan, and Global
Head of IPX Business for SAP Mobile
Services, a division of SAP. He oversees
the company’s global GRX/IPX/LTE
Roaming business and helps drive pipe-
lines and revenues with local teams in
every region. In addition to his global
IPX role, in Asia Matthew is responsible
for managing and driving the company’s
growth, market leadership, product
definition, and geographical expansion
in both Enterprise Services and Mobile
Operator Services businesses across
the region, through a combination of
direct sales and a partner and alliances
sales network.
community here: http://bit.ly/1iUfwd2
Mobile operators find themselves
at a crossroads where they have
to choose between partnering with
OTTs and competing against them.

SMS hubbing made its debut in the early
2000s. InphoMatch, one of the companies
that eventually constituted SAP Mobile
Services, first launched SMS hubbing in 2001.
Around the same time, across the Atlantic,
an independent small startup called Nilcom
(likewise a predecessor to today’s SAP Mobile
Services) launched a different flavor of hubb-
ing. The core concept was that mobile net-
work operators (MNOs) would make a single
connection and extend their reach to many
other operators. That helped give rise to the
texting revolution, not only in the Americas,
where previously there had been no bi-lateral
SMS interoperability, but globally as well,
through bi-lateral connections where MNOs
connected directly to one another as well
as to hubs.
Today, a global network of hub providers
enables SMS interoperability/interwork-
ing throughout the world, making SMS the
most ubiquitous person-to-person (P2P)
non-verbal communications medium in the
history of mankind.Additionally, over the
last 10 years, a robust application-to-person
(A2P) ecosystem has emerged.Traditionally,
this has been through the use of common
short codes within a national or regional
marketplace; however, standard telephone
numbers are also used by the application,
or enterprise, side of the equation. Like the
P2P world, there are also A2P hubs, typically
called aggregators.A2P aggregators provide
a connection to the application server on one
side and a“reach”to multiple MNOs on the
other, through both short codes and standard
telephone numbers (a.k.a. long codes).
Portio Research notes: “At the end of 2012,
83% of worldwide SMS traffic was P2P
messaging, and A2P/P2A traffic made up
the remaining 17%. With the increasing
focus on mobile banking, mobile payments
and mobile health, etc ... , we believe that
contribution of the A2P/P2A category will
increase over the next five years. According
to our forecasts, close to a quarter of total
text messages will either originate from or
terminate at an application server by the
end of 2017.”1
A2P (including, occasionally, P2A) messag-
ing is a huge business. Portio Research est-
imates that A2P messaging will grow at a
compound annual growth rate of 3.9% and
the revenue for A2P messaging will continue
to grow (fig. 1).2
A2P messaging is certainly
an area where the pure over-the-top (OTT)
messaging plays have not made any inroads
– you don’t see WhatsApp or Line users
texting to a short code, and likely won’t any-
time soon. Portio notes: “MNOs are now
banking on the P2A/A2P SMS segment
to increase their messaging revenue and
are thus aggressively promoting services
such as mobile banking, social network-
ing, voting, ticketing, coupons, quizzes,
mobile payments, and SMS marketing.”
While P2P messaging gets fragmented
and cannibalized by various OTT service
providers, it is the A2P capabilities provided
by standards-based SMS that will help
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Year
2010
F – Forecasted
Figure 1. A2P messaging will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3.9% and the revenue for A2P messaging
will continue to grow.
Based on data from Portio Research Ltd.
2011 2012 2013F 2014F 2015F 2016F 2017F
SMSrevenue
(inUSDbillion)
P2A and A2P SMS revenue - worldwide
In USD billion, 2010-2017F
53.553.752.7
50.4
48.2
44.3
33.6
39.8
Blurring the Lines Between
A2P and P2P Messaging
SMS hubbing is evolving, and messaging capabilities
and subscriber messaging plans will need to adapt.
By William Dudley, Group Director, Mobile Evangelist and
Global Solutions, SAP Mobile Services
FOOTNOTEs
1. Mobile Messaging Futures 2013-2017 (Portio Research, July 2013), 45: http://www.portiore
search.com/en/major-reports/current-portfolio/mobile-messaging-futures-2013-2017.aspx
FOOTNOTEs
2. Mobile Messaging Futures 2013-2017 (Portio Research, July 2013), 45: http://www.portiore
search.com/en/major-reports/current-portfolio/mobile-messaging-futures-2013-2017.aspx
PART 2: 2014 Themes

in some markets, such as the United States
and Canada, OTT players that fully interop-
erate with SMS and use traditional tele-
phone numbers could potentially be part
of similar payment schemes.
The bottom line is that services like these –
especially those that require or promote the
exchange of value or payments, whether in
real or virtual currency – can be delivered
using simple SMS with a variety of security
mechanisms, often using the existing mes-
saging infrastructure, in particular A2P (and
to an extent P2P) hubs. While there certainly
will be some back-end requirements, such
as linking telephone numbers to accounts
(whether banking, payment, credit card,
or some other type of account), the ability
to then leverage a well-known and uni-
versal medium is paramount. This type of
service shows that a subscriber’s telephone
number can become a highly valuable proxy
for a variety of services.
Today’s messaging hubs are not like the
hubs of old. A2P hubs are evolving, incor-
porating multiple channels including SMS,
MMS, and Push notifications, and will
certainly incorporate Rich Communications
Services (RCS) capabilities as that standard
becomes ubiquitous. Additionally, P2P
messaging is expanding beyond simply
connecting MNOs to including innova-
tive OTT service providers – those offering
cloud-based, multi-device services that
also interwork with SMS and MMS and now
landline and toll-free numbers. The latter
category opens up vast new capabilities and
tens of millions of additional destinations
and enables new business models. Imagine
people being able to call or text a well-
known vanity toll-free number to engage
with a brand – a brand that might have sig-
nificant equity in a vanity toll-free number
that is now fully messaging-enabled.4
This is becoming a reality today, and will
become more commonplace in 2014 and
beyond in the US and Canadian markets.
In the United States, toll-free numbers
and landlines are increasingly becoming
SMS-enabled. That means that subscribers
can initiate texts to businesses and brands
in a P2P style. One interesting example
keep SMS very relevant for a long time and
potentially backfire on the OTTs. One of
the reasons is that mobile messaging, in
its various forms, is one of the several key
mobile engagement strategies that enter-
prises and brands can use to keep consum-
ers and employees engaged and connected.
An innovative example of A2P messaging
originated in the United Kingdom in January
2013, as announced by BBC News with
the headline: “Payments by text message
service to launch in UK in spring 2014.”3
This story is fascinating, though not to the
extent that UK payments will be made by
text message, as this has been done for
years in various other markets such as
Kenya. (Nowadays one can also send money
via smartphones, using apps.) No, what is
fascinating is that text messaging is once
again the bearer of this payment information.
What this really means is that the banks
involved (the BBC story lists eight), which
cover 90% of account holders in the United
Kingdom, specifically want to use not
another app or an OTT app, but SMS, the
most ubiquitous and far-reaching text-
based communications medium ever.
The SMS payment scheme is very well
thought out by the UK Payments Council;
in this implementation, the subscriber’s
mobile phone number becomes a proxy
for their bank account information.
UK mobile operators must be welcoming
this development with open arms, because
out goes another reason for subscribers to
migrate their texting to a non-SMS-capable,
OTT service such as WhatsApp, which has
caused SMS traffic drops in many markets.
The scheme is a rich testament to the
stability and ubiquity of SMS. Additionally,
Mobile operators must adapt their subscriber
messaging plans to include geographic, IP, landline,
and toll-free numbers just as they do traditional
mobile numbers.
FOOTNOTEs
3. "Payments by text message service to launch in UK in Spring 2014," BBC News
(15 January 2013): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21032503
FOOTNOTEs
4. We start to use the term “messaging-enabled” as a generic description for SMS/MMS/RCS
messaging or telecom-standards-based messaging. Today, users (or “subscribers,” as we like
to call them) do not differentiate: they will send/receive media at will, whether it is text, images,
or video. Note that many just say,“Text me that picture.”

bank-account proxy or supporting subscrib-
ers texting to well-known vanity toll-free
numbers, this helps keep the subscriber
engaged with the mobile operator. Then
the MNOs can ease in all of the new
cloud-texting and RCS-based solutions
that will wow their subscribers. Do that,
and they’ll have a much better chance of
bringing back the messaging subscriber.
William Dudley has almost 30 years of
experience building and managing tele-
communications network infrastructure.
He defines SAP Mobile Services’ global
solutions strategy within the mobile eco-
system, focusing on solutions for mes-
saging, next-generation networks (LTE,
IPX), and mobile consumer engagement.
As mobile evangelist, he communicates
through both internal and external public-
ations and is active in industry groups. His
blog can be found at: http://scn.sap.com/
people/william.dudley/content
community here: http://bit.ly/1g2kUIZ
is that many public safety agencies have
begun to SMS-enable their non-emergency
numbers. Subscribers can then send tips
and information to local police departments,
and typically a dispatcher will respond back
personally to further engage the subscriber.
Additionally, some public service agencies
will include an auto-responder message
back to the sender, stating that a dispatcher
will get back to them (as sometimes dis-
patchers are busy with more pressing,
emergency matters).
Herein, then, is where we see the “blurring”
between A2P and P2P. Traditional A2P has
it that one side of the messaging commu-
nications is not an individual person, but a
business – an enterprise or brand or even a
public agency. Traditional P2P was supposed
to be two individual subscribers texting
with one another. But the P2P of today and
tomorrow will be individuals reaching out
to brands and businesses by texting to their
well-known landlines – customer support
numbers or ordering numbers, for example
– which were traditionally voice-only. The
responses will be both automated and
human-generated and may include rich
media. Further engagement must seam-
lessly switch to other mobile engagement
methods including rich media, coupons, and
payment arrangements that could be more
“A2P” in nature. In these models, a messag-
ing hub’s importance is paramount. Whether
the subscriber uses an MNO service, an
MNO’s cloud service, an RCS chat via text,
or multimedia, the messaging hub environ-
ment should be able to deliver, transcode,
and route that traffic using the appropriate
protocols and capabilities for the traffic to
reach its intended destination. Messaging
hubs in this new environment must provide
intelligent solutions engagement to enable
this new world of connectivity.
Additionally, as what we call traditional P2P
and A2P messaging evolve, mobile opera-
tors must adapt their subscriber messaging
plans to include geographic, IP, landline, and
toll-free numbers just as they do traditional
mobile numbers. That way, their subscribers
will have full access to an amazing array of
new “text-enabled” or “messaging-enabled”
services that the OTT players (who have
cannibalized MNOs’ existing messaging
traffic and revenues) aren’t able to provide.
By simply supporting millions of additional,
simple SMS destinations, they take away
one more incentive for a subscriber to forget
SMS and move all their communications
to pure OTT. Whether through supporting
payment options with a phone number as a
Messaging hubs in
this new environment
must provide intelligent
engagement solutions
to enable this new
world of connectivity.

PART 2: 2014 Themes
The term “big data” has been hanging over
mobile operators for the past several years
as their networks collect huge amounts of
customer data and other information. While
the concept of big data is nothing new, oper-
ators are now at the point where they realize
its value and that now is the time to take
an active role in managing and analyzing it.
Big data has been a sort of dark asset for
operators because they have been unable
to unlock the hidden value of the data and
turn it into a revenue stream. But they know
the data isn’t going away, so the present
challenge is how can they turn their big
data into a viable and lucrative business.
Overcoming big-data pain points
To get to the point of monetizing the
big-data opportunity, mobile operators
have to clear several hurdles that are
slowing their progress:
• Data size and volume. Compared to a
year or two ago, operators are dealing
with 10 times the amount of data on
mobile-user activity, and that’s continuing
to increase. With such a massive amount
of data, they will need a database system
to store and organize it and to run analy-
tics against. The sheer volume makes
these tasks a challenge.
• Accessing the data. The data is stored
in numerous silos across the operator’s
infrastructure – customer relationship
management data in one location, call
records in another, billing somewhere
else, and so on. It isn’t uncommon to
find data locked in 16 or more data-
bases within a single mobile operator.
• Analyzing the data. To make sense of
the raw data coming in at a steady clip,
operators need to analyze it.The process
could be as simple as auto-correcting
for age and gender, since many custom-
ers have family, corporate, or prepaid plans
where it might be difficult to know exactly
who is doing what. Demographic inform-
ation combined with a user’s usage
history–through the use of predictive
analytics– can give an operator a good
idea of likely areas of interest, such as if
that user might be receptive to new offer-
ings based on fashion, sports, or cars. This
type of data can be extremely valuable
to marketing agencies and brands.
• Analyzing “on the fly.” Operators
need to be able to conduct data analyt-
ics quickly so that clients asking for data
insights don’t have to wait days or weeks
for a report to be generated. If clients have
to wait, then the information may not be
as valuable or relevant as it might have
been when the data was first requested.
• Sales expertise. On the business side,
operators realize that while their sales
divisions may have the expertise to sell
mobile communications services, they
don’t necessarily have the skillset or
connections to sell business or market-
ing services, which is how data presents
itself to end users. Having sufficient
breadth and depth of sales coverage
will be critical to monetizing big data.
• Data protection and privacy. This
issue is of the utmost importance when
it comes to big data. Mobile operators
must figure out how to monetize their
data in such a way that they are comply-
ing with privacy regulations and safe-
guarding their customers’ information
Deriving Value from Big Data
The amount of data being collected by mobile operators
is accumulating fast. Operators now need to realize the
full value of this store of information and start monetizing it.
By Kevin Outcalt, Vice President, Mobile Analytics and Consumer Insight,
SAP Mobile Services
Big data has been a
sort of dark asset for
operators because they
have been unable to
unlock the hidden value
of the data and turn it
into a revenue stream.

while protecting their own brands.
The last thing they want is to be at the
center of a massive data breach or for
the service to negatively affect their
customers or their own reputations.
Taking big data to the next level
Mobile operators clearly desire to monetize
and get value from their big data, but as yet
not a lot of them are doing this on a large
scale. In 2013, we saw a shift toward external
monetization of big data by a majority of
operators. Prior to that they had been lever-
aging this information internally, in order to
better serve their own customers in areas
such as lowering churn, fraud reduction,
and upselling new products and services.
Today, most of these external uses of big
data tend to be one-off projects that require
the operator to put in a lot of time and effort
to gather and analyze the requested data.
The next step is to replicate that process
in an automated manner, so clients can
get the data whenever they need it. Retail,
consumer goods, and other industries are
already taking advantage of mobile operator
customer data; logistics and transportation,
finance, and government agencies could
also greatly benefit from big data.
Operators will need to make some up-
front investments to launch these services.
Since they are pulling and collating inform-
ation from a number of databases to get
the complete picture, some operators are
relying on a mediation layer to extract
information – demographics, radio network
details, call detail records, and more – and
put it in a standard format amenable to
database queries. Without this mediation
layer, it’s very difficult to offer big data as
a service to customers.
Data as a revenue stream
The good news is that big data provides
tremendous internal value. Operators are
justifying the business case for investing
in additional software and solutions to help
internal teams pull and analyze the inform-
ation. Once these internal systems are in
place, it’s not a big leap to leverage the data
to create new client offerings for external
revenue generation.
Due to the extensive requirement for
database servers, software licenses, IT
expertise, and processing and storage
capacity, some operators are looking to
cloud-based services to lighten the finan-
cial burden. In this scenario, a cloud
provider receives data from the operator
and provides the technology in the cloud,
lessening the operator’s upfront cost. It’s
a good way to drive new revenue streams
without a huge capital cost and ongoing
expenses, especially when you consider that
all of this big data isn’t just sitting in one
place, but rather is widely dispersed across
numerous systems within the network. This
entire undertaking – from collecting data
to storing and processing it – amounts to
a big investment for mobile operators.
Down the road, once operators have the
process of gathering and making sense of
their big data running smoothly, they can
take the next step and provide a full service
to their customers. Services might include
ad placement or tracking based on data
results – operators would function as a
service bureau giving companies a one-
stop shop for data, plus actionable services
based on it.
Valuable space
“Big data” may still sound daunting to
a lot of operators, but the vast majority
of them are quickly getting on board due
to the many benefits and value that it
can bring. These operators want both to
internally improve their businesses and,
potentially, to provide data-derived services
to external partners. The data isn’t going
away – by leveraging it and hopefully
making some money from it, operators
can realize big advantages from what
otherwise would simply be taking up space.
Kevin Outcalt has over 20 years’experience
with telecoms and information technology
companies, ranging from AT&T to Cisco
Systems and SAP, where he has held
positions primarily in telecom product
and solution development, management,
and marketing.
community here: http://bit.ly/1cPHJz0
Down the road, once operators have the process of gathering
and making sense of their big data running smoothly, they can
take the next step and provide a full service to their customers.

Communications has helped bring the world
together. Even as the world seems to be
getting smaller, thanks to communications
tools and technologies, when it comes to the
mobile industry, different regions still have
their own characteristics.
EMEA– Europe, the Middle East, and Africa–
is a designation that’s often seen in the
business world to group the many countries
across this wide area. It might seem strange
to lump such a large and diverse region
together under one label. Certainly many
differences exist within this geographic
space, and considering the many changes
happening in mobile communications
specifically, it’s useful to break down the
market to better understand the issues and
challenges within.
Think global, act local
Within the EMEA region, each sub-region
experiences business, cultural, language,
and many other differences. Take the advent
of MVNOs. In Europe particularly they
play a dominant role, with a market share
7% above the global average. As a result,
whereas 10 to 15 years ago markets like
the UK and Western Europe had just two or
three operators per country, more recently
we’re seeing an influx of MVNOs within
those markets that are successfully taking
on the incumbent operators and making
significant strides, through a mixture of
competitive pricing, innovative branding,
and effective targeted marketing – for
example, serving ethnic communities with
EMEA’s Rapidly Changing Market
Regional differences are still prevalent when it comes to mobile
communications. The issues, challenges, and opportunities
facing the countries of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
(EMEA) are unique to the region.
By Mark Weait, Vice President, SAP Mobile Services
PART 3:
EMEA
Part 3: EMEA
Whereas years ago an operator could find
new subscribers simply through extending its
network to convert hitherto unreached parts
of the populace, this is no longer possible in
extremely saturated markets.

Finding common ground
Mobile operators everywhere are dealing
with similar economic situations of recovery
from several years of recession. In most
places, operators are doing everything they
can to transform into lean operations that
focus on driving revenues and margins
while reducing churn and bringing in larger
numbers of subscribers.
One way to reach these goals is to look for
new sources of revenue, a universal chal-
lenge regardless of what type of network
an operator is running. New revenue could
be generated from mobile banking and
payments, which have found great success
in the African market. Leveraging “big data”
within operators’ own networks, for both
internal use and as a product offered to
external marketing organizations, is another
potential new revenue option.
To increase efficiencies, mobile operators will
need to“sweat”their assets – that is, become
more efficient by realizing as much value as
possible from their existing infrastructure
instead of building out new networks.
This has been evidenced by the pace
of European 4G rollout, which arguably
has fallen behind its compatriots in Asia-
Pacific and the United States. However,
2014 should be the year where we see
rapid expansion from European and Middle
Eastern operators. Hopefully they will not
be put off by escalating costs; for example,
Ofcom, the United Kingdom’s independent
communications regulator, has announced
that is it may look to quadruple 4G license
fees. Operators in Asia-Pacific and North
America have undoubtedly taken the lead
in terms of rolling out 4G networks, and
the Middle East seems to be following
that lead, with operators perhaps aided
by their more nimble ability to upgrade
their network infrastructure.
Upon completion of LTE domestic deploy-
ment within various countries, the next
step will be to look internationally and
ensure international roamers are supported.
Indeed, some of the early adopters across
the world are now really starting to appreci-
ate the importance of managing quality of
service for 4G international roaming. This is
directly in response to the high expectations
their subscribers have when surfing on 4G.
service packages focused on low-cost calls
and texts to international destinations.
Incumbent operators thus have to contend
with new competition that is attacking their
subscriber bases. Whereas years ago an
operator could find new subscribers simply
through extending its network to convert
hitherto unreached parts of the populace,
this is no longer possible in extremely sat-
urated markets. Some, like Germany, are
operating at over 138.7% penetration
(Informa Q2 2013) – that is, mobile phones
and contracts already outnumber people..
To respond to these developments, opera-
tors have to become much more agile in
their service delivery. But at the same time,
due to the increase in competition from
MVNOs and other providers, they enjoy
much less flexibility in terms of setting prices.
Furthermore, margins are being squeezed
by ongoing investment in building out ever-
changing infrastructure and technology,
such as the roll-out of the new 4G networks.
As a result, one of the major challenges for
European operators is to maintain revenues
and subscribers while driving margin improve-
ment.Pending EU roaming regulations –
proposals that would reduce,and even
eliminate,roaming charges across the EU–
will likely make meeting it even harder.
The Middle East and Africa, meanwhile,
are moving along the same track as parts
of Europe, sharing many of the similar
trends. Yet there are also differences.
While MVNOs are certainly present in some
countries, what you find across much of the
Middle East is more of a duopoly situation
– the UAE, for example, boasts only du and
Etisalat – and this creates a different chal-
lenge. In Africa, by contrast, what is preva-
lent is the hotly contested battle between
the “super groups” (Airtel, Vodacom, MTN,
and Glo). Both scenarios deliver the same
net result: extreme price pressure; nonethe-
less the advantage many of these countries
have is that there are still gains to be made,
because market saturation levels are typi-
cally significantly lower.
Wherever these countries are on their
journeys, competition, however it is played
out, is rife. Once saturation is reached, this
will lead to many similarities in terms of their
future opportunities and roads to success.

The Middle East and Africa will see
increased competition from within their
borders as well as from foreign operators
interested in increasing their geographic
footprint. This region will experience new
investment, new economies of scale, and
new market entrants, all of which will have
to be managed. In addition, if as expected
the EU relaxes regulation around mergers
and acquisitions, we could see a ramp-up in
market consolidation across Europe, as has
occurred in Germany and Ireland recently.
Another interesting trend among mobile
operators in EMEA, as in other parts of
the world, is trying to get as close to the
customer as possible through owning the
“last mile.”When customers look at their
banking or supermarket app, they aren’t
thinking about the carrier that’s working
behind the scenes to deliver the content
they’re looking for; they’re thinking of the
company whose brand appears on the app.
One way for mobile operators to jump into
this game is by developing their own apps or
by co-branding apps with content providers.
Some operators are looking to Rich
Communications Services (RCS), which
allows them to offer services similar
to those currently being brought to
market by over-the-top (OTT) operators.
New services might include combining
voice with video sharing and messag-
ing into a single offering. In addition, we
can also expect a proliferation of oper-
ator-owned and -branded applications
and services, such as mobile banking.
A time for change
No matter where you look, from Northern
Europe to South Africa and across the
Arabian Peninsula, one consistent theme
evident throughout this vast region is
change. Whether it’s upgrades to LTE
in Europe, increased competition in the
Middle East and Africa, or some of the
more universal issues such as managing
the big data explosion, preventing fraud,
reducing churn, and driving new revenue
opportunities, EMEA mobile operators
will certainly be kept busy.
Meanwhile, each region is becoming more
connected to others as operators work
toward the same goal of bringing people
together, no matter where they are. The
world is becoming smaller.
As Vice President for SAP Mobile Services,
the mobile interconnection and mobile
consumer engagement services division
of SAP (formerly Sybase 365), Mark Weait
is responsible for the continued growth of
SAP Mobile Services’ messaging revenues
across all market segments in EMEA,
including telecom, financial services,
fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG),
manufacturing, and logistics.
community here: http://bit.ly/1fQxxpC
Trends to Watch in EMEA
•• Competition in the United Kingdom
and Western Europe is getting stiffer as
MVNOs enter the market, often targeting
ethnic minorities and other niches.
•• The European market is saturated, with
110% and higher penetration. Operators
will introduce innovative services to
create new revenue streams.
•• Middle Eastern and African operators
face fewer competitors and less market
saturation than those in the United
Kingdom and Western Europe. Compe-
tition from within their borders as well
as from foreign operators will increase.
•• Rapid expansion of 4G rollouts from
Middle Eastern and European operators.
•• Across all regions, operators are inter-
ested in increasing profits by adding
efficiencies and new revenue streams.
Operators are exploring big data and
mobile banking as potential new
revenue sources.
•• LTE deployment will continue through-
out EMEA and extend to international
roamers next.

Take a look at your mobile phone.You might
have a smartphone, a feature phone, or, if
you’re really old-school, one with a mono-
chrome screen where Snake is the only
game on offer. Nonetheless, regardless of
the manufacturer or model, there will be
a green button for making a voice call.
Punch a string of numbers into the phone,
press that green button, and somewhere
in the world another phone starts to ring.
When the person you are calling picks
up, you can speak to them. It is such a
fundamental part of telecoms that you
could think it is impossible to conceive
of anything ever changing.
And yet, with the growing deployment of
LTE, voice services from mobile operators
will need to evolve to meet the challenge
from alternative service providers.
In truth, voice has been somewhat taken
for granted by operators for some years. It
is a given that all mobile phones will support
voice, and the equipment for supporting TDM
voice and circuit switching has been present
in mobile networks for a very long time.
Operator voice revenues have been squeezed
by the growth in popularity of alternative VoIP
services to the point where, in some markets,
revenues have declined at a small but steady
rate for a number of years.That said, voice
calls do still contribute almost $1 trillion to
operator revenues globally.
LTE disrupts
So, what changes with LTE, and why does
it create a threat?
First, LTE delivers a lot of bandwidth to the
end user. This is great for customers who
want to watch videos or play games online,
but it also means that Voice over IP (VoIP)
services can use this bandwidth to deliver
much higher quality voice calls as well.
Where LTE coverage is strong and available
bandwidth is good, voice calls on VoIP are
of considerably higher quality than those on
mobile operators’ circuit-switched networks.
LTE also has much lower delay on the
radio interface, which means that the other
limiting factor of VoIP service providers’
calls – end-to-end latency – is significantly
reduced, and so perceived quality gets a
second boost. High bandwidth and low delay
amounts to a network technology that could
be taken as being optimized for VoIP delivery.
These positive aspects of LTE should offer
an opportunity for operators to upgrade
their voice services to compete with VoIP
providers. However, when standardizing LTE,
3GPP did not specify a voice implementa-
tion; it was decided that circuit-switched
voice would not be used, but no alternative
was explicitly identified. Four years ago, this
was a major discussion point in the industry,
and it was not until early 2010, when the
GSMA began working with a group of oper-
ators and vendors calling themselves “One
Voice” that a definition for Voice over LTE
(VoLTE), based on the IP Multimedia Sub-
system (IMS), came into being.
2014: The year of VoLTE?
Even with this definition in place, issues have
arisen. IMS is not a straightforward technol-
ogy to implement, to the point where some
operators were reluctant to countenance
the need for IMS as a requirement in LTE.
A number of technical challenges also pre-
sented themselves, including how roaming
would work and the need to support inter-
working back into existing circuit-switched
networks. On top of that, the industry
continues to use TDM for voice intercon-
nect, even when most operators and carrier
networks have IP-based transport networks.
It is a classic Catch-22: even though the
networks on either side of an interconnect
are using IP, the link connecting them is
based on TDM, with the result being that
TDM remains cheap because of call volume,
and continues to have high call volumes
because it is cheap.
Nonetheless, VoLTE has made steady
progress, with 2014 likely to be a big year
for deployments. So far there are four VoLTE
deployments of scale, these being by the
three major Korean operators as well as by
MetroPCS in the United States. All report
very good voice-call quality and very low call
setup times. Other major carriers are on the
verge of VoLTE launches including Verizon
Wireless, AT&T, and China Mobile, while
plenty more have tested VoLTE in pilots
and laboratories.
The challenge ahead
Challenges still remain. Technically, imple-
mentation of IMS and VoLTE requires a very
different skill set to that by circuit-switched,
while interconnect and roaming will be some
way off. Perhaps more difficult for operators
VoLTE: An Essential Part of Every
Operator’s LTE Strategy
VoLTE will continue to make steady progress, and
2014 is likely to be a big year for deployments.
By Dan Warren, Senior Director of Technology, GSMA
Part 3: EMEA

to comprehend is the business case
for VoLTE – there is a CapEx outlay asso-
ciated with IMS, but there isn’t an obvious
incremental revenue stream as a result of
VoLTE. VoLTE is not really about increasing
revenue though; it is more about maintain-
ing the revenues that operators gain from
voice already. VoLTE will allow high-defin-
ition voice codecs to be used, and is based
on the same technology as Rich Com-
munications Services (RCS), meaning that
instant messaging, video chat, and file
transfer – all available today from VoIP pro-
viders – can also be offered by operators.
As a result, the question operators should
ask themselves is not “Why should I imple-
ment VoLTE?” but “What happens if I
don’t?”Without VoLTE, operators will be
faced with some stark choices. One option
is to keep voice on 2G and 3G, using Circuit-
Switched Fallback (CSFB); this is a path
being taken by many operators as a short-
term solution, but it stifles innovation in
voice services and also makes the refarm-
ing of 2G and 3G spectrum bands much
more difficult. Alternatively, operators could
deploy their own proprietary VoIP services,
but this would make the existing capability
to “call any number in the world” a very diffi-
cult service expectation to meet, since every
VoIP variant would require a specific tech-
nical interworking definition to every other.
VoLTE provides a standard for voice calls
over LTE, with the potential for operators
to evolve and innovate their voice services
both now and in the future while also
maintaining full interconnect for customers,
as they have today with circuit-switched
voice. It enables the green-button service
that end users have today. It is this that
makes VoLTE an essential part of every
operator’s LTE strategy.
As Senior Director of Technology at the
GSMA, Dan Warren is a technology subject
matter expert across all of the GSMA’s
project and working groups and key spokes-
person for the GSMA. Dan currently leads
the GSMA’s definition of Voice over LTE
(VoLTE) for the global industry, as well as
being a lead technology expert on rich com-
munications and all IMS-based projects,
embedded mobile, and Wi-Fi roaming.
Share your comments, thoughts, and
updates to this article — join the
community here: http://bit.ly/1hreksd
Every time you call a friend abroad using
a traditional phone, you will somehow pay
your service provider for this service.Your
service provider won’t keep all of the revenue;
a part of it will be cashed in by the service
provider serving the friend you are trying to
call. It is common practice for service provid-
ers to charge for incoming phone calls and
text messages, but it is not common practice
at all to charge for incoming data traffic. Now,
this is about to change.
Mobile service providers typically pay a
straightforward bandwidth-based fee for
connectivity to the GRX. This business
model is easily justified, since the revenue
generated by data roaming far outweighs
the cost of a GRX connection. But once
again, the roll-out of LTE is changing
the game: as download speeds to mobile
devices go up, so does the need for IP
bandwidth to carry inbound traffic. In the
case of basic content like web pages, all
that’s required is more and more upstream
internet capacity. The cost of that type
of revenue is easily recovered by the
retail price of LTE data packages. But in
the case of content for which subscribers
are prepared to pay, another mechanism
can be put to work.
Companies like Netflix offer a growing
library of TV and movie content over the
internet. People happily pay for this content
and enjoy it on their mobile devices. But
as the displays of these devices get better
and better, they will not settle for a poor
viewing experience. And for as long as the
internet is the only network available for
content delivery, viewing quality cannot
be guaranteed. After all, we all know how
slow the internet can get on a rainy
Sunday afternoon or when the kids get
home from school. This presents mobile
service providers with a business opportu-
nity: to offer high-quality termination of
data traffic – in return for a piece of the
pie, of course.
Multimedia Content on LTE Devices
Can mobile service providers get a piece of the pie?
It is common practice for service providers to
charge for incoming phone calls and text messages,
but it is not common practice at all to charge for
incoming data traffic.
Part 3: EMEA

QoS on the LTE RAN with that level of
granularity are simply not there yet. In
the longer term, mobile operators will
need to face the challenge of having to
deal with different commercial agree-
ments with different content providers,
and with the accounting complexities of
having to charge for volumes of traffic
based on the origin of the traffic. But
where there’s complexity there’s opportu-
nity, and in this case one would expect a
small number of IPX providers to provide
specialized services around accounting
and settlement of high-QoS IP traffic.
All of this may sound far-fetched, but
mobile service providers are highly
motivated to explore these new business
opportunities. After all, the roll-out of
LTE networks requires substantial invest-
ment, and the prospect of new revenue
streams generated by LTE being largely
directed elsewhere is hard to digest. A
number of mobile service provider groups
have faced the challenge and, working with
the GSMA’s Future of Interconnect group,
have designed and assessed different new
interconnect models. No doubt, this will
be reality within two years if not sooner.
Michael Van Veen is responsible for
managing and driving the GPRS Roaming
Exchange (GRX) / IP eXchange (IPX)
product line for SAP Mobile Services.
He began his career at KPN Telecom,
where he worked on major projects includ-
ing the international standardization of
ISDN and Fiber-to-the-Home systems,
and the establishment of an opera-
tional management center for the first
GSM network in the Netherlands. He
is also the current Deputy Chairman of
the GRXIPX Working Group, which is a
sub-working group under the GSMA’s IREG
(Inter-Working Roaming, Expert Group).
community here: http://bit.ly/OnB9ER
On paper the proposition looks simple: the
content provider connects to the mobile
service provider, typically via the IPX, and
the quality of service is guaranteed from
the content-streaming platform down
to the mobile device. The novelty is that
rather than paying for bandwidth, as is
the case with the GRX, the mobile service
provider will charge for bandwidth. Dif-
ferent scenarios can be considered, but
they all boil down to the same thing: the
content provider ends up paying some of
its revenue to the mobile service provider
in order to ensure that its subscribers enjoy
the best possible viewing experience.
As always, the devil is in the detail. Accord-
ing to the 2013 IPX survey carried out by
Questex Media Group and sponsored by
SAP Mobile Services, it will be a while before
mobile operators are able to create the
perfect individual content delivery service.
This requires the capability to fine-tune the
appropriate quality of service (QoS) per
service on the LTE radio access network
(RAN) for each individual subscriber.
The systems needed to get control over
But where there’s
complexity there’s
opportunity, and in this
case one would expect
a small number of IPX
providers to provide
specialized services
around accounting and
settlement of high-QoS
IP traffic.

In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven
environment, it is good to know that some
things are still valuable. One of these things
is SMS. The Short Messaging Service has
not died yet; it has retained technological
consistency and remained true to its objec-
tive from the very beginning. When SMS
celebrated its 20th birthday two years ago,
global traffic volumes were about 350 billion
messages per month. It is no secret that
revenues from SMS have been declining for
several years; however, operators are still
leveraging the service not only because of
its popularity, but also because of their
ability to monetize it.
For the past several years SMS has been
dismissed as dying or even dead, a view
perhaps brought about by the decline in
revenue streams for operators, or perhaps
by the popularity of instant messaging apps
that are slowly gaining traction with the
advent of smartphones. By contrast, SAP
believes that SMS volume is still the bread
and butter for operators. SMS remains a
huge business with huge margins. It is still
an extremely important business area if well
managed and monetized.
The global advantage of SMS
Currently, well-known messaging apps
like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and
Viber require both sender and receiver of
the message to be using the same app and
do not rely on the mobile phone number
to establish a connection. They use the
internet and IP addressing to provide the
service to their customers.
More and more end users have been using
these over-the-top (OTT) services because
of their enhanced features and the price,
which is generally zero. OTT services are
gaining popularity, thus affecting the bus-
iness of operators. Operators are seeing that
this extra data is creating extra pressure on
their networks which they are paying for –
these services that seem free are in fact not.
In order to have access to these services,
subscribers are upgrading their data plans;
it is like a sort of switching of services.
However, the limitation of OTT messaging
services is due to the fact that these they
tend to be region- or country-specific. For
example, WhatsApp messenger might be
popular in the Middle East but not in Korea,
Australia, or the United States.
The number of OTT messaging providers
is growing, but messaging apps have many
platforms, as opposed to SMS being one
platform. For example, when two people
meet, they are more likely to exchange an
SMS first, then an OTT message. With SMS,
users don’t need to have engaged with each
other or have a direct social relationship
with each other.
SMS has a global reach; it is able to reach
any network around the world. It is based on
a single platform. With a single connection to
an aggregator, operators can reach hundreds
of networks worldwide – half of those
directly for messaging and data services.
Part 3: EMEA
SMS Monetization
Simplify your SMS business model with the right
partner to ensure maximum SMS monetization.
By Toni Eid, Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Telecom Review
It is no secret that revenues from SMS have been
declining for several years; however, operators are
still leveraging the service not only because of its
popularity, but also because of their ability to monetize it.
SMS has a global
reach; it is able to
reach any network
around the world.

SMS hubbing
From operators’ perspective, SMS usually
sits under the wholesale department, or the
roaming department sometimes, and they
are constantly looking for ways to simplify
their SMS business for daily operations.
A typical operator will have various bilat-
eral roaming agreements enabling its
subscribers to use roaming while abroad.
So, if you want to send a message from
the United Arab Emirates to someone
in the United States, unless your UAE
operator has agreements with all of the
US operators and is connected to a Mobile
Number Portability (MNP) database, the
message might fail to be delivered.
If the message is not delivered, not only will
the operator lose customer satisfaction, but
also it can’t charge for it, thereby causing a
loss in retail revenue. Moreover, SMS traffic
is typically balanced – in most cases one
expects a reply – so the operator will lose
the value of incoming wholesale. Therefore
the operator must ensure that the MNP
element is solved.
This is a role that aggregators can take
by solving the MNP issue in countries that
complements an operator's direct coverage
to easily establish a seamless connection.
With the growth of mobile operators and
the services they offer, global message
exchange has become highly complex and
resource intensive. The bilateral agreement
model can restrict operators from realizing
an interoperability footprint, and there
are significant costs associated with the
co-ordination of global services and imple-
mentation of each operator.
Thus the operator has to maintain day-to-
day reports in its SMS center, updating for
new networks and adding new roaming
partners. And if one of the roaming partners
has changed something technically in the
network, then the operator has to follow.
The operator also needs to run reports of
traffic balance. For example, if there is huge
imbalance in traffic between a local operator
and an operator in the United States – say,
the US operator is sending five times more
messages than the local one, congesting its
network – then the local operator will charge
a certain amount for the excess.
This indicates the need for SMS hubbing.
SMS hubbing allows operators to signifi-
cantly expand the reach of their SMS
services by simplifying the interwork-
ing arrangements between operators. In
addition to the benefits of expanding SMS
coverage to new destinations, SMS hubbing
offers increased operational efficiencies
and financial savings by removing the need
for time-consuming bilateral agreements.
The SMS hubbing model allows an operator
to interwork SMS with other operators
connected to the same hub, or intercon-
nected hubs, using a single multilateral
agreement. This is a significant improve-
ment from the current bilateral interworking
arrangements, whereby operators have to
establish one agreement for every SMS
interworking partner.
For operators to simplify their SMS
business model, they should select one
single partner with one single hub that can
manage global connection, solve the MNP
issue, and remove the daily operation of
reporting, reconciliation, and settlement,
leaving them free to take care of other
services and focus on their customers.
Toni Eid started his media and publishing
career in 1985 and has been involved in
international business in the Gulf, Europe,
and North America since 1986. He often
participates in industry events as a speaker,
judge, moderator, or chairperson.
community here: http://bit.ly/1nxfaek
The bilateral agreement model can restrict operators from
realizing an interoperability footprint, and there are significant
costs associated with the co-ordination of global services and
implementation of each operator.

5958
Today’s world is always on and always con-
nected. The proliferation of mobile devices
has significantly changed when and how we
interact with the world around us, and the
increase in smartphone adoption to around
50% in places like North America, Asia, and
Europe is opening a window to a different
world of market research.
Smartphones and tablets are affecting the
kind of information that’s being captured
with each mobile interaction or transaction.
We can learn when people are sending SMS
messages or making calls and what sites
they are browsing, what they are purchas-
ing, and which apps are most used. Mobile
data can also tell us how far customers
travel to get to work, where they shop, and
how long they stay there.
Data deluge
The sheer volume of data being generated
by mobile devices today is staggering and
can easily overwhelm the mobile operators
tasked with collecting, storing, and analyzing
it.While many organizations still use tradit-
ional methods to monitor consumer behavior
– such as surveys, consumer panels, focus
groups, and other direct contact methods
– mobile operators have a remarkable
amount of customer data and market intel-
ligence right at their fingertips. This data
is extremely valuable to organizations
looking to capture and retain customers.
Considering that more and more devices
are connecting wirelessly – to contactless
payment systems, smart TVs, cars, and
more – the potential wealth of consumer
behavioural insight that can be collected
is phenomenal. Add to that information
gathered from store loyalty cards and other
sources, and a whole new dimension of
customer data emerges. Marketers can use
this insight to better plan and adapt their
marketing programs in new ways, including
personalized offers and limited sales based
on proximity to a particular business.
Consumers, then, could receive tailored
promotions like Tom Cruise’s character
experiences in the film Minority Report.
But a lot of people who saw that film were
a little concerned by the level of personal
detail that businesses knew about each indi-
vidual. We’re already at that point today, and
so the inevitable question of how to balance
targeted offers with personal privacy needs
to be addressed.
Keeping track of privacy
We’ve gone from tracking cookies on web
browsers to being able to locate exactly
where someone is, thanks to positioning
technology embedded in smartphones.
Having the technology, however, doesn’t
mean customers have to give up their
right to privacy.
Most organizations have a privacy policy that
clearly outlines the types of information they
collect and how it’s used, reinforced by reg-
ulatory mandates. Marketers must therefore
adhere to fairly strict measures designed
to ensure that personal information isn’t
floating around without any controls.
In addition to a privacy policy, companies
should also educate their customers on
exactly how they use information collected
from mobile devices, point of sale, and other
sources. Consumers need a detailed expla-
nation of the many benefits of mining and
analyzing customer behavior and habits. If
someone understands that by knowing which
websites they frequent and what stores they
visit, a company can deliver to them a very
focused, targeted special offer that might
include a deep discount or free shipping,
then they are more likely to perceive data
collection as mutually advantageous.
Maintaining Privacy in the
Age of Big Data
Mobile networks are producing huge amounts of data on consumer
behavior and habits which are a treasure trove to marketers looking
to understand and capture new customers. How do you balance
this “big data” influx with customer privacy?
By Guy Rolfe, Head of Global Mobile Practice, Kantar
Part 3: EMEA
If someone understands that by knowing which
websites they frequent and what stores they visit,
a company can deliver to them a very focused,
targeted special offer that might include a deep
discount or free shipping, they are more likely to
perceive data collection as mutually advantageous.

In the future, mobile operators, internet
providers, and others will spell out exactly
what data they are collecting on customers
and exactly whom they are sharing it with.
Making this information available should
lead to customers having greater control
over their “digital footprint” and defining
who can have access to what data.
Surprisingly, a majority of customers
are willing to have data about themselves
captured and used if this means receiving
highly targeted ads or offers. Today’s
consumers are savvy and understand
the many benefits of collecting data
from their mobile devices.
Keeping a level of trust
The burden is on mobile operators to ensure
that their vast storehouses of consumer
data are put to good use. Operators must
create a privacy policy with the customer
and carefully select which partners will
receive collected data and in what format.
In some cases, it might be specific down to
the individual level; in others, anonymized,
aggregated data would serve just as well.
Every so often, we hear about data privacy
breaches and companies using location-
based information to track customers.
These cases give big data and marketers a
bad name and do nothing to build consumer
trust and loyalty. Mobile operators, market-
ers, and other firms that hope to capitalize
on this data should involve the consumer in
the process and allow them to have a say in
what’s collected and what’s not and how
that information is used. If this data sharing
becomes a two-way street, all parties will
benefit from the tremendous opportunities
that big data provides.
As Global Mobile Practice Leader at Kantar,
Guy Rolfe is responsible for the company’s
mobile strategy. He focuses on harnessing
the power of new digital technologies for
collecting market research. He has more
than 16 years’ experience in the market
research industry.
community here: http://bit.ly/1qL84lu
Voice is no longer the core mobile service.
High-speed networks such as LTE, new-
generation devices, and innovation from
online service providers (OSPs) have given
rise to new data demand patterns and new
IP-based services with data usage rates con-
tinuing to increase significantly. However, in
this all-IP world, customers will still demand
the best quality of service, high reliability,
and global reach for all their services.
To keep pace and stay relevant, mobile
operators must leverage their existing
network assets, including quality of service
and interoperability. They must also evolve
their business models and make significant
investments in network infrastructure. The
IPX helps operators tackle these challenges.
Benefits of the IPX
The IP eXchange, or IPX, is a managed inter-
connection network standardized by the
GSMA and i3forum, the carrier organiza-
tion. The IPX relies on the principles of the
GPRS Roaming Exchange (GRX) and being
a managed network (unlike the internet).
It's value proposition encompasses security
and superior reliability, enabling operators
to guarantee quality of service for the inter-
connect of IP-based services. It is also open
to any service providers such as fixed or
mobile players.
The IPX also simplifies commercial agree-
ments. Today, TDM voice commercial agree-
ments between operators are extremely
complex: if one operator wants to set up
a voice TDM interconnection with other
operators, it must negotiate contracts
bilaterally, with each one.
On the other hand, the IPX, with its hubbing
principle, enables multilateral interconn-
ections between operators, allowing them
to manage one contract instead of several.
On the technical side, such a hubbing
principle simplifies the interconnect as
operators only have to connect to the IPX
once, instead of setting multiple bilateral
physical connexions. This simplified connect-
ivity reduces costs and time-to-market for
IP-based services.
The IPX: The Time is Now
High-speed networks, new-capabilities devices, new
competition from online service providers, and more
demand for IP-based services are challenging the status
quo. The IPX is part of the solution.
By Philippe Bellordre, Project Manager, Future of Interconnect, GSMA
Part 3: EMEA

IPX for which services?
In LTE networks, both signalling and bearer
traffic are delivered over IP. Therefore for
LTE roaming situations, the connectivity
for signalling and bearer traffic between the
visited network and the home network is
delivered over IP-transport with a require-
ment for a high level of security and quality.
The IPX is the perfect network to manage
this quality-sensitive traffic. As such,
with more and more LTE networks being
launched worldwide, we have seen LTE
roaming gaining momentum in 2013 with
agreements announced and commercial
services launched using the IPX.
The Rich Communications Services (RCS)
suite is also on the IPX agenda. Worldwide
reach is an important differentiating asset
for mobile network operators and an import-
ant value proposition for mobile customers.
The ability of mobile network operators to
interconnect their RCS solutions is therefore
critical for the success of RCS. By reducing
the number of interconnect (hub principle)
and simplifying the complexity of RCS inter-
connect, the IPX will therefore speed up the
overall number of RCS interconnect and
make RCS a truly ubiquitous service. The
GSMA is currently working with mobile oper-
ators to make this vision a reality in 2014.
Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is also the next big
thing on the agenda. To provide a ubiquitous
reach and end-to-end high-quality HD voice,
a complete IP chain from one end user to
the other one through all the chain includ-
ing the interconnect is required. Again,
keeping the value proposition of today’s
voice – that is, quality and security – is key,
as well as simplifying the voice intercon-
nect (to accelerate time to market).
Piloting successful
implementation
In order to prepare this shift to a full-IP
world, the GSMA has encouraged opera-
tors to complete voice over IPX intercon-
nect commercial pilots to prove commercial
and technical viability of voice over IPX. The
first pilot was undertaken by Telecom Italia,
a fixed line operator, and Movistar Guate-
mala, a mobile network operator (Telefónica
Group), in partnership with two IPX provid-
ers. During this pilot, the operators tested
traffic in a lab environment initially, to ensure
that everything would work as planned. In
parallel, the participants agreed on a price
structure. Then the participants shifted
the commercial traffic between parties to
the IPX route and compared the quality of
voice traffic. This pilot was a success, with
no major technical problems and similar
Smartphones
Application
Service
Providers
Mobile Network
Operators
Fixed Network
Operators
The IPX is an interconnect service that is offered by a variety of carriers on a competitive basis but with common
agreed technical specifications and using consistent commerical models. The managed network environment is
traffic-engineered to support specific IP services at specific quality levels. The IPX solution is a premium quality
solution that promises error-free delivery of traffic while offering the flexibility to apply an appropriate level of
quality as demanded by each different class of service.
What is the IPX?
Worldwide reach is an important differentiating asset
for mobile network operators and an important value
proposition for mobile customers.
IPX IPX
IPXIPX
Internet
Service
Providers

6564
voice quality as with legacy interconnect.
Another similar pilot will start shortly.
Other opportunities
provided by the IPX
Among the assets of network operators,
the possibility to manage network quality
of service is key. As such, an end-to-end IP
connectivity coupled with quality of service
(end-to-end prioritization of data along
the value chain) could be a worthwhile prop-
osition for network operators that wish to
address future commercial opportunities –
including a two-sided market – by delivering:
• Enhanced offerings and benefits
for consumers.
• Innovations from OSPs, enabling them to
differentiate and deliver their services at
the consumers’ preferred level of quality.
As a managed network guaranteeing quality
of service at the interconnect, the IPX is well
positioned to be a key element in this QoS
full chain. The GSMA is currently in discus-
sion with mobile networks to define new
business models to leverage this two-
sided market approach.
Not “if,” but “when”
With TDM interconnect being very cheap
and investment needed to set up IP
interconnect, operators have been quite
reluctant to shift their interconnect to IP
so far. However, with the launch of new
IP services requiring IP interconnect (LTE
roaming, RCS, and VoLTE) and operators
willing to leverage interconnectivity as a
differentiating asset, the outlook looks
bright for the IPX.
Philippe Bellordre joined the GSMA in
2012. He is responsible for accelerating
the adoption of IP interconnect for new
services or technologies across interna-
tional markets. He works collaboratively
with worldwide mobile operators on the
new opportunities offered by IP intercon-
nect such as alternative business models.
community here: http://bit.ly/PHPBZn
the operator respondents said that they
plan to launch application-specific plans
(fig. 1), and almost as many plan to launch
quality-of-service-based plans to boost
data-roaming use and monetize traffic.
The same survey asked global mobile
operators which region is most impor-
tant for roaming partners; 40% answered
that Western Europe is the most important
region, followed by Asia-Pacific with 20%.
Although Western Europe is lagging in LTE
deployments, its importance as a business
travel destination makes LTE roaming a
priority for all operators in the region.
Market developments
Mobile roaming is a significant opportunity
for operators but it is still characterized
by the legacy of “bill shock.” Roaming
regulations – especially in Europe – have
gone a long way to address these end-user
concerns, and continue to be instrumental
in bringing down the cost of using mobile
services while abroad. And with new
regulations to come into effect from July
As LTE deployments in Europe continue to
advance, mobile operators are now starting
to assess the business value of roaming,
since LTE customers are typically high-value
customers who may often travel. There is
still significant latent demand among users
for roaming data services from which oper-
ators could profit, and the latter could
capture much of the roaming data use that
currently goes over free Wi-Fi networks if
they had the right service mix in place.
For European operators in particular the
future landscape of the roaming market
is unclear, because of pending regula-
tion that could force them to charge the
same amount for providing mobile services
anywhere in Europe as they do in their home
markets. Nevertheless, data roaming is still
considered an important revenue driver,
especially as smartphones continue to
penetrate the market.
According to Informa Telecoms & Media’s
“LTE and Next-Generation Roaming” 2013
survey, operators plan to launch a variety
of new service plans with the aim of boost-
ing use of data roaming over LTE. Half of
LTE Roaming Market Developments
Look for 2014 to be the year when LTE roaming becomes
a crucial element of LTE network monetization across Europe.
By Dimitris Mavrakis, Principal Analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media
Part 3: EMEA

next year, new players will enter the market,
likely pushing roaming tariffs further down.
But in the middle of these regulations,
operators have been busy deploying their
complexity and challenges that come with
LTE roaming service deployment. Figure
2 illustrates an operator survey asking
whether operators felt ready for roaming
in 2013. The same question was asked
in a similar survey during 2012, when a
staggering 41% of operators believed that
the industry was not ready for LTE roaming,
whereas 21% agreed that operators were
ready and 3% strongly agreed. In summary,
during 2012, 24% of respondents were
positive towards LTE roaming readiness,
and this increased to 41.8% during 2013.
experience that customers will increasingly
want to replicate, even while travelling.
Although the majority of operators have
yet to finalize their LTE roaming strategies
and are at the early stages of in-market
LTE rollouts, Informa expects that 2014
will be the year when LTE roaming
becomes a crucial element of LTE network
monetization across Europe. There are still
numerous building blocks that operators
are now putting in place to realize the LTE
opportunity, including addressing the
LTE networks and launching new digital
services including enhanced voice, in-call
calling, payments, and M2M to encourage
the growth of mobile data revenues.
These new services will offer a richer user
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Strongly agree
Figure 2. With each year, operators become more positive about LTE roaming readiness.
Based on data from Informa Telecoms & Media. Note: n=141 (operators only).
Agree Neither agree
nor disagree
Respondents(%)
Disagree Strongly
disagree
Survey statement: Operators are ready for roaming in 2013
18.4
37.6
32.6
9.2
2.1
Survey question: What type of plan are operators most likely to extend
to roaming customers?
Figure 1. Operators plan to launch a variety of new service plans with the aim of boosting use of data roaming over LTE.
Based on data from Informa Telecoms & Media. Note: 91 MNO and MVNO respondents. Respondents picked three
answers each.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Other
Dynamic data plans
Additional data “turbo boost” plan
Unlimited data plans
Shared data plans
QoS-based plans
Specific plans for different devices
(e.g., iPhone, Galaxy)
Application-specific plan
(e.g., Facebook, WhatsApp, Spotify)
Toll-free data plan within
a tiered allowance
Respondents (%)

Operators have been steadily launching LTE
roaming. For instance, in September 2013
SK Telecom, Swisscom, and Rogers
Communications launched the first inter-
regional LTE roaming service, covering
South Korea, Switzerland, and Canada.
SK Telecom launched intra-regional LTE
roaming with CSL in Hong Kong in June
2012, SingTel in Singapore in March 2013,
and Globe Telecom in the Philippines
in April 2013. Meanwhile, in June 2013,
Tata Communications and Telecom Italia
Sparkle implemented the first LTE roaming
peering between two IPX providers.
Now that these early moves have been
made to enable LTE roaming, this market is
poised for steady growth as operators try
to gain competitive advantage by being the
first to offer LTE roaming in their markets.
Technical developments
Arguably there are challenges to imple-
ment LTE roaming, and some elements
are not yet fully standardized, including
VoLTE roaming. Nevertheless, there
have been significant developments
in the market regarding the transition
of GPRS roaming services to LTE,
It is essential that operators retain the
ability to steer roaming users to preferred
networks, to minimize any leakage of
roaming revenue, since LTE network
rollouts will have an impact on preferential
roaming agreements. Operators should
look to partnerships to capture as much
roaming data use as possible by meeting
end users’ expectations of QoE related to
how much they are paying. Informa expects
2014 to be the year LTE roaming enters
the Western European market and that by
2015, most operators in the region will be
offering roaming to their subscribers.
Dimitris Mavrakis is a Principal Analyst
with Informa Telecoms & Media. He is
part of the Networks team where he
covers a range of topics including LTE,
Wi-Fi, small cells, SDN, virtualization,
network APIs, and identifying emerging
strategies for the mobile business. Dimitris
is also actively involved in Informa’s consult-
ing business and has led several projects
on behalf of tier-1 operators and key vendors.
community here: http://bit.ly/1gtnMJb
including technical developments
regarding Diameter, the signaling protocol
used for LTE. Vendors and operators
have developed Diameter Edge Agents
(DEAs), the entities that control signaling
exchange to and from the network and also
enable inter-operator roaming. Several
operators and roaming providers have
now implemented DEAs, while equipment
technology has advanced considerably.
Hubbing is also considered a preferred
choice for enabling roaming, due to the
challenges of establishing bilateral roam-
ing agreements, which eventually lead to
increased complexity and intensive testing
requirements. Although bilateral agree-
ments are expected to be signed during
the early stages of LTE roaming, hubbing
is expected to become mainstream.
Future outlook
Operators are now approaching LTE roam-
ing with a view to monetizing as much data-
roaming traffic as possible. The availability
of free Wi-Fi means that users, especially
consumers, often prefer a free service
with a lower quality of experience (QoE)
to a premium, charged-for experience.
Operators are now
approaching LTE
roaming with a view
to monetizing as
much data-roaming
traffic as possible.

7170
Operators also claim the drop in roaming
revenues could delay achieving the conti-
nent’s Digital Agenda targets of universal
access to 30-Mbps download speeds,
with half the population subscribed to
a 100-Mbps or faster service.
Neelie Kroes, the EU’s Digital Agenda
champion, has heard it all before, and says
European investment in communications
infrastructure has been weak for years.“The
fact is, if anything, roaming revenues tend to
contribute to cash expenditure rather than
investment capability,” she argues.
Market analyst Informa reckons mobile oper-
ators are looking a gift horse in the mouth. By
its estimation, 70% of travellers switch their
phones off for fear of“bill shock,”or they look
for free Wi-Fi to use Skype and WhatsApp in
their destination countries.“Operators are
already losing out on considerable revenue,”
From 1 July 2014, Europe’s mobile opera-
tors have to allow rival operators to sell local
access to voice, text, and data services to
their subscribers once they leave their home
countries. At the same time, regulators
are forcing down roaming and termination
prices as part of a move to create a single
market in communications across Europe.
Are operators ready? In short, no.
All operators, especially incumbents, are
fighting on two fronts. First, they are saying
the moves threaten their investment in
next-generation fixed and wireless broad-
band networks. They want to delay imple-
mentation or at least control the timetable.
Second, they are starting to close the gap
between domestic and roaming rates, but
the introduction of Long Term Evolution
(LTE) and Wi-Fi is complicating matters.
the report says.“‘Lost roamers’are a new
market.Taking geography out of mobile
pricing will increase traffic volume and could
balance the lost roaming revenues.”
Decouple this
Operators have known about the impending
change for a year. The new measures oblige
them to allow the separate sale of roaming
services through a wholesale roaming access
obligation for any access seeker, such as
other mobile operators, mobile virtual
network operators (MVNOs), and resellers.
The jargon term for this is“decoupling.”
Home country providers will have to inform
their customers of their right to decouple,
and any switch to an alternative roaming
service provider has to be free of charge.
The European Telecommunications’
Network Operators’Association (ETNO),
the challenger or altnet lobby group,
thinks the decoupling regulation is over-
kill and proposes instead a voluntary
reduction in roaming fees of the kind
Vodafone introduced with its Red plans.
Corporate roaming deals have always
existed, but Vodafone was early to extend
this level of service to business and retail
customers alike with the launch, in April
2013, of Red, which allows subscribers
to roam in 14 European markets for an
extra €3/day plus call and data charges
priced at the user's domestic rates.
Says ETNO: “In practice, the voluntary
reduction would mean that consumers
could use their domestic bundles also for
voice, SMS and data roaming for a minor
surcharge. They would not have to con-
clude a separate roaming contract and
would not have to worry about bill shocks,
since roaming is included in their domestic
package for a pre-defined, small fee. The
surcharge could be a small per-minute,
per-SMS or per-MB fee or a one-off fee
added to the price of the domestic package.”
ETNO has called for the July 2014 dead-
line to be suspended until there is "legal
certainty" on the application of rules and
deadlines related to the implementation of
the latest regulations. To meet the deadline,
operators have had to start investing in
new systems now, but these could be
redundant if operators were effectively
able to opt out from the decoupling
obligation, the association believes.
Have Operators Decoupled
Themselves from the Reality
of New Roaming Regulation?
Operators could be looking at changes to roaming regulation as a
chance to drive mobile broadband usage, but they’re far from ready.
By Ian Grant, Mobile Europe
Part 3: EMEA
Lost roamers’ are a new market. Taking geography
out of mobile pricing will increase traffic volume and
could balance the lost roaming revenues.

Guy Hilton, Director of Product Marketing,
Revenue Management at business support
system (BSS) specialist Amdocs, says com-
plying with the regulation, while maintaining
low operating and capital expenditures,
“will be very challenging for European service
providers.”He reckons domestic service pro-
viders (DSPs) will need to do four things:
• Support provisioning and registration
of ARPs’ subscriber information.
• Route the roaming charging events to
the ARP with which the subscriber has
a roaming agreement.
• Split the transfer account protocol (TAP)
IN files, rerate events, and generate the
corresponding files to ARPs (in compli-
ance with its partnership agreements
with different ARPs).
• Set up and manage multiple partners, as
well as complicated billing and financial
settlement activities.
Training people to use more data
Others are more optimistic. Steve Living-
ston, Senior Vice President at iPass, a Wi-Fi
connectivity provider with access to 1.2
million hotspots in 123 countries, welcomes
the new regulations. Whereas firms like
A complex project that impacts
a lot of systems
Most operators did not respond to requests
for comment. TeliaSonera demurred that the
regulations weren’t yet in place. Orange has
been more forthcoming.“This is a really
complex project impacting a lot of our
systems,” says a spokesperson. “The latest
announcements from Neelie Kroes and
the EC about a new regulatory package
on roaming are creating confusion on the
validity of the decoupling effort. We are
looking for clarification as soon as possible.”
Among those systems are the core network,
IT systems, and platforms including home
location registers (HLR), online charging
systems (OCS), routing, localization, fraud,
provisioning, wholesale billing, third
party settlement systems, and so on.
“We need to be able to identify all the
alternative-roaming-provider (ARP)
roaming traffic for all services, per IMSI
(international mobile subscriber identity),
in each of our networks, per country.
Then, as per the regulation, we will need
to provide a new platform for signaling/
provisioning/billing to connect the poten-
tial ARPs,” the Orange spokesperson adds.
Packet Core (EPC) has to be updated with a
specific implementation; and second, post-
VoLTE, which requires all the systems to be
reworked again.The extent of that impact is
still unknown.
Orange thinks it's all happening too quickly.
“We may discover some border effects
during the implementation phase,” the
company warns.
If that’s the case, then the sooner they
start and iron out the bugs, the quicker
they’ll start making money again.
Ian Grant is a UK-based freelance business
journalist with a deep interest in telecoms
and broadband. He has written for Mobile
Europe and European Communications
since 2011, and was previously senior
reporter at Computer Weekly. He also runs
the Br0kenTeleph0n3 broadband blog.
community here: http://bit.ly/1iUlURD
Vodafone have “painted the continent Red,”
the new regulations give smaller operators
a very attractive wholesale buy rate, he says.
Livingston believes subscribers will now
become much more aware of affordable
roaming packages. He expects Europe to
follow what happened in the United States
when AT&T introduced a single national
rate, which decimated the earnings opera-
tors made when a subscriber roamed
between metropolitan area networks, such
as between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
But this led to a change in consumption:
subscribers stopped being scared of bill
shock and started downloading data, very
often from public access Wi-Fi hot spots.
Of course, LTE and Wi-Fi are now often
rolled out in parallel. Livingston is delighted:
“LTE trains people to use more data. For
every LTE-capable device shipped there
are probably eight or nine times as many
Wi-Fi-only devices.”
Another forthcoming wrinkle is the intro-
duction of Voice over LTE (VoLTE). Orange
points out that LTE, which is just launching in
many countries, requires a completely new
core IP-based network.The impact is dual,
it says: first, pre-VoLTE, where the Evolved

Consider frequency capping on advertis-
ing. As marketers, we don’t want to serve
a banner ad to the same person multiple
times. We collect phone usage stats to keep
the ads fresh for consumers, but we don’t
collect personal information, like location
or user profiles. However, the new ruling
doesn’t distinguish between the different
types of data. The Mobile Marketing Asso-
ciation (MMA), the Advertising Association,
and others have joined together to create
a more specific definition of personal data
and address how that data is stored.
What’s needed is a fairly simple and easy
to understand data collection policy that
addresses notice, transparency, and choice:
• Give someone notice that you want
to collect data.
• Be transparent about what you will
do with the data.
When was the last time you actually read
a privacy policy before clicking “I agree”?
In the European Union, changes are under-
way to the standards for data collection and
privacy that will impact the agreements you
may or may not be reading, as well as the
data that is collected for marketers.
The EU directive of 1995 on the protection
of personal data is getting a makeover to
address our more mobile world. Standards
bodies are reviewing proposed changes and
hearing concerns now, with voting expected
to take place at the end of 2014, after the
European Commission has presented the
proposal to the European Parliament and
the Council of the European Union. For
mobile marketers, how the directive defines
personal data has become a big point of
contention because the proposed regulation
doesn’t recognize the difference between
benign and highly personal information.
For now, the requested changes will affect
organizations in the EU, but it’s likely they
will be interpreted and possibly dupli-
cated in North America and other regions.
Every country is paying close attention
to privacy and data collection regulation
changes. Since the US National Security
Agency’s PRISM surveillance program was
exposed in early June 2013, the spotlight is
much brighter on these issues and they will
continue to attract attention – especially
when the media alerts the public to large-
scale privacy breaches.
Responsible marketing in
the mobile age
Contextual data will be top of mind in
2014 for mobile operators. Conglomerates
like Weve (the consortium of O2, EE, and
Vodafone) are gathering vast amounts of
consumer data and aggregating it to expose
consumer behaviors and buying patterns.
This database of consumer information
provides operators with a spectrum of
opportunities and challenges. Operators
can send conceptually focused offers to
targeted groups. Rather than historical and
• Give them a choice to opt out when
they want.
Sharing data with third parties is another
proposed change for the regulation of data
protection. Whereas currently many mar-
keters have agreements that any data col-
lected may be shared with third parties, the
new standard puts an end to data sharing.
Marketers will have to receive permission
each time to collect data, and they will be
restricted from sharing it with other groups.
Opt-in rules are also getting clarifications.
The existing regulations are somewhat
unclear around what a consumer actually
opts in to. If someone orders a catalog
using their mobile, for example, and opts in
to share information with that division of a
company, does that mean their information
can be shared throughout the company?
In other words, can the brand push pro-
motions for other offers to the consumer
who only wanted a catalog? Most consum-
ers would say they did not opt in for every-
thing, just the specific item. If the changes
are ratified, the opt-in promise will not be
binary: the consumer’s data will remain only
with the division that provides the catalog.
Data Collection’s Changing Regulations
The European Union is looking to change and improve rules
around collecting and sharing mobile consumer data. Mobile
marketing has a lot at stake. If done correctly, it can fulfill the
promise of one-to-one marketing.
By Paul Berney, Co-Founder and Managing Partner EMEA, mCordis
Part 3: EMEA
What’s needed is a fairly simple and easy
to understand data collection policy that
addresses notice, transparency, and choice.

7776
geographical data, they have predictive
and personal data. Offers based solely on
purchasing history are much less targeted
than an offer that combines purchasing
history with real-time activities. As the
consumer is requesting a football score
update, for example, the team can also
remind the consumer of upcoming games
and ticket availability. Or, based on location
information, stores can send coupons to
shoppers as they enter the parking lot
or walk through the door.
Brands are imagining all types of innovative
offers based on the consumer data provided
by operators. To be successful, operators
must persuade consumers to opt in for
their services with the promise of worth-
while offers. If consumers don’t see the
value in the offers, they will opt out of the
service. Let’s say I sign up because I am
interested in sports, yet I never receive any
sporting information, only lots of cinema
offers. I may drop out, as cinema data alone
is not interesting to me. Consumers expect
something of value in exchange for sharing
their information.
On the whole, consumers are nowadays
much more sophisticated around what
they have opted in to receive, and their
level of privacy knowledge is increasing all
the time. Mobile communication greatly
increases the amount and types of data
available to collect, and it promises a one-
to-one marketing opportunity that we’ve
been discussing since customer relationship
management was introduced more than 15
years ago. We can finally reach this goal if we
do it right. What we have to do is make sure
we give and provide something of value in
exchange. There is a great potential to ruin
this channel if we don’t treat consumers
the way they want to be treated.
Paul Berney, Co-Founder and Managing
Partner EMEA of mCordis, has a decade of
experience in mobile marketing and more
than 25 years’ experience in a wide variety
of sales, marketing, business development,
and commercial roles spanning several
different industries and market sectors.
Previously, as Chief Marketing Officer and
Managing Director of the EMEA branch of
the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA),
he led the MMA’s global marketing efforts
and more specifically its activities involving
more than 150 member companies.
community here: http://bit.ly/PHRUeU
Mobile Marketing
Guiding Principals
•• Provide transparency. Tell what data
will be collected and how you will use
the data.
•• Respect privacy. Do not collect or
share private data.
•• Understand preferences. Ask con-
sumers what they prefer and respond
to their preferences accordingly.
•• Gain permission. Always ask for
permission.
Privacy and permission policies should
be easy for brands to write and con-
sumers to understand. Be simple and
straightforward.
Tell the consumer,“We will always get
permission before collecting your data.
We will be transparent about how we will
use your data, and you can opt out at
any point. In exchange for opting in to
our services, we will endeavor to make
sure we provide a valuable exchange
of offers, information, and/or other
services.”
Brands are imagining
all types of innovative
offers based on the
consumer data
provided by operators.

$25.00. Beyond this point, data ARPU
will continue to grow as voice ARPU
continues to decline. With a combined
market that is seeing a 9% increase in
connected devices and many traditionally
non-mobile companies making greater
than $100 million per quarter (think
Facebook and Twitter), the United States
and Canada will continue to be world
leaders in the deployment and acceptance
of innovative mobile-related services.
Latin America now accounts for 10%
of the global mobile market in terms of
revenues, generated across a diverse
swath of cultures, languages, and coun-
tries. As of mid-2013, out of a population of
610 million, there were 631 million SIM con-
nections accounting for 319 million unique
subscribers. The GSMA noted in 2013 that
total mobile revenues in the region totaled
$107 billion in 2012, with the 9% year-on-
Looking back at 2013, it is clear that the
mobile industry had another extraordinary
growth year. From subscribers to services
and revenues, this industry continues as a
worldwide leader in many ways.
In the United States, according to Chetan
Sharma Consulting, data revenues grew 5%
through the third quarter 2013, reaching
$22.8 billion. The firm forecasted that the
United States’ total data revenues would
exceed 50% of its total service revenues
in the fourth quarter. Smartphone penetra-
tion for the US-Canada market is now over
60% and continuing to grow, with over
94% of new mobile devices categorized
as “smartphones.”
Interestingly, Chetan Sharma also fore-
casted that within the fourth quarter, the
data and voice average-revenue-per-user
(ARPU) trends would converge at around
Mobile Market Activity
in the Americas 2013
Mobile industry continues to expand the subscriber
base, add new services, and show revenue gains.
By William Dudley, Group Director, Mobile Evangelist and
Global Solutions, SAP Mobile Services
PART 4:
AMERICAS
PART 4: AMERICAS
The United States and Canada will continue to be
world leaders in the deployment and acceptance
of innovative mobile-related services.

8180
said, Portio Research noted that from 2011
to 2012, the North American SMS market
only declined 0.5%, concluding: “This really
is not at all the disastrous scenario of doom
and gloom that many industry pundits were
predicting two years ago.” Indeed, according
to both Portio and our own messaging traffic
analysis, the US market remains the largest
SMS market by a significant margin –
so much so that “even if the United States
declined 30% from its 2011 peak, it would
still remain above its own 2009 traffic
figure.” It’s surprising to know that Canada
has quietly sneaked into second place
in terms of per-person-per-month usage
(PPPM), behind the United States.
Latin America saw SMS traffic continue
to increase in 2012 and 2013, with a peak
expected in 2016, based on analysis from
Portio Research. As this market has less
than 30% smartphone penetration, we have
not seen extreme cannibalization by OTTs
as we have in markets such as Western
year growth rate making Latin America the
second-fastest growing global region.
The GSMA also predicted: “Smartphone
penetration will be close to 20% of the pop-
ulation at the end of 2013, marginally below
global averages, and is forecast to rise to
44% by 2017. The potential of new ‘third
wave’ mobile applications and the oppor-
tunities from machine-to-machine con-
nectivity are still largely untapped in Latin
America.” This means that Latin America
presents a ripe opportunity for many of the
established mobile services and capabilities
that are more mainstream in North America.
Mobile messaging in the United States
and Canada had a mixed year, in that it
did feel pressure from over-the-top (OTT)
messaging, including primarily Apple’s
iMessage. While iMessage uses SMS to
reach non-iOS devices, the strong growth
of Apple devices in the market also kept
iOS-to-iOS communications brisk. That
Compared to many other parts of the world,
the Americas are less affected by third-party
OTT players – though pure-OTT messaging
apps do play a role in fulfilling subscribers’
messaging needs, subscribers tend to
view them as more of a portal to social
networking. Many subscribers remain
SMS users, in that there is still considerable
growth in using SMS-based messaging as
a consumer engagement medium. This is
not the case with the pure-OTT messaging
providers. Also, the United States and
Canada are unique in their support for
NUVOs, which are essentially text-only
(though some offer voice) and, as of the end
of 2013, serve an estimated 30-50 million
individual users. Due to the nature of how
NUVOs operate, these OTTs actually help
preserve SMS traffic within their market(s).
In 2013, mobile data continued substantial
growth patterns around the world and mobile
networks led the way for this Western hemi-
sphere. In the United States, Verizon, Sprint,
AT&T, and T-Mobile, as well as quite a few
other mobile network operators, continued
to deploy and expand their LTE networks.
In late 2013 Verizon highlighted that its LTE
network covers 99% of its current 3G foot-
print and over 303 million people.
Europe or Asia-Pacific. In 2012 the Latin
American market sent 389 billion person-
to-person (P2P) SMS messages and 69
billion application-to-person (A2P) mes-
sages, accounting for over $2.4 billion
in revenue as forecasted by Portio.
On 9 April 2013, a multi-hour iMessage
outage revealed the impact of iMessage on
pure SMS. For the US market, our internal
data showed, the hourly traffic increases were
14%, 19%, 16%, and 16% for hours 16, 17, 18,
and 19 (US EDT) respectively.These were the
four full hours that iMessage was down.
For Canada, again using our internal data,
the increases were 22%, 34%, 27%, and
26% for hours 16, 17, 18, and 19. We noticed
that higher percentages were due to intern-
ational texters who would be more likely to
use a smartphone or iPhone and don’t nec-
essarily fully reflect how much iMessage has
actually cannibalized SMS. Not surprisingly,
the US/Canadian Network Unaffiliated
Virtual Operators (NUVOs – OTT, but
SMS-interoperable service providers)
did not show such traffic surges during
the hours in question. In Brazil, the SMS
increases were 13%, 4%, and 16% for hours
17, 18, and 19, falling to 3% for the last hour.
Latin America presents a ripe opportunity
for many of the established mobile services
and capabilities that are more mainstream
in North America.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile began to remake itself
as the “Un-carrier.” Starting at the end of
October, T-Mobile offered new capabilities
that include virtually free data roaming in a
number of countries. This new “Un-carrier”
marketing campaign has already helped
gain T-Mobile almost one million subscrib-
ers, mostly from AT&T and Sprint, and
many more are expected to come on board.
In Mexico, Telcel continues to build out its
Red 4GLTE, which now covers 25 cities.
By mid-2013, according to research from
TeleGeography, Brazil had approximately
257,000 LTE users across Vivo, TIM Brasil,
and Claro. Elsewhere in Latin America,
mobile operators continue to build out
and launch LTE services, mostly on the
Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band.
2013 wasn’t without a bit of corporate
drama. Microsoft acquired Nokia; AT&T
acquired Leap Wireless (Cricket); T-Mobile
USA acquired MetroPCS (there goes two
competing prepaid operators for the US);
and Verizon began to divest itself of its
Vodafone ownership, with Softbank buying
a controlling interest in Sprint. Additionally,
BlackBerry was up and down: almost sold,
then not, and finally to be led by ex-Sybase
CEO John Chen.
William Dudley has almost 30 years of
experience building and managing tele-
communications network infrastructure.
He defines SAP Mobile Services’ global
solutions strategy within the mobile eco-
system, focusing on solutions for mes-
saging, next-generation networks (LTE,
IPX), and mobile consumer engagement.
As mobile evangelist, he communicates
through both internal and external pub-
lications and is active in industry groups.
His blog can be found at: http://scn.sap.
com/people/william.dudley/content
community here: http://bit.ly/1nxerKi
That the US mobile market is in flux is hardly
up for debate. Nor is the fact that much
of that change is being driven by the rapid
deployment of 4G, and in particular by LTE
network technologies.
Curious about what happens – and how
competitors must respond – when an
incumbent (in the United States’ case,
Verizon) jumps out with an early LTE
lead? Check. Wondering about the value
of LTE-capable spectrum in a competitive
4G market (and what that means for M&A
and market consolidation)? Check. Want to
understand how users will consume all that
extra bandwidth, what it means for smart-
US LTE Market Offers 4G Test Lab
The US mobile market has emerged as a valuable stage
for testing the dynamics of LTE-driven competition.
By Rich Karpinski, Senior Analyst, Yankee Group
Figure 1. US LTE is off to a quick start and still growing.
Based on data from Yankee Group Mobile Broadband Forecast, October 2013.
The US will boast more than 180 million registered LTE lines by 2017
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
72
101
128
155
181
2013
MillionsofregisteredLTElines
2014F 2015F 2016F 2017F
PART 4: AMERICAS
Year F – Forecasted

8584
phone and connected device adoption,
and the best way to monetize both of
these trends? Check, check, and check. In
short, for those operators looking to under-
stand how to compete in the new world
of LTE – not only as the first few LTE subs
onboard a new network, but also as those
networks evolve and adoption moves into
the millions (a total of 72 million US LTE
users in 2013, according to Yankee Group
forecasts; see fig. 1) – the United States
is an early-adopter market well worth
studying and in many cases emulating.
One technology, many approaches
Perhaps LTE’s greatest value and appeal
to operators around the world is its emer-
gence as the global standard for 4G mobile
networks. Despite their being grounded
in 3GPP standards (Release 8 for LTE
and Release 10 – and beyond – for LTE-
Advanced), there’s as much art as science
in how LTE networks get deployed in the
real world. From vendor/platform choices
to spectrum availability (in terms of both the
location and amount of spectrum) to legacy
network migration and evolution consider-
ations, no two 4G/LTE network roadmaps
are really the same.That’s proven true in the
US market, especially as operators move into
their second wave of LTE deployments lever-
aging additional spectrum holdings, advanced
LTE capabilities such as carrier aggregation,
and surgically placed HetNet hotspots.
Verizon arguably pushed the entire US
market to LTE by deploying its CDMA overlay
network in late 2010. By summer 2013 it
had covered practically its entire service
area with LTE. That was a major milestone,
but the operator had little time to gloat
as customers sopped up that additional
bandwidth. By early 2014, a whopping 69%
of Verizon’s data traffic was traversing its
relatively new LTE network, and the operator
admitted it was facing capacity challenges
in major cities. The solution? Moving
onward to phase two of its LTE deployment,
leveraging high-band 1700-MHz/2100-
MHz AWS spectrum (acquired from US
cable operators for almost $4 billion in
2013) that enables Verizon to deploy new
40-MHz channel systems in some cities,
essentially tripling its network capacity.
Not to be outdone, other US operators
have scrambled to acquire the necessary
spectrum and deliver on LTE roadmaps to
compete with Verizon. AT&T and T-Mobile,
rebounding from their failed merger, have
LTE drives competitive
market dynamics
As we’ve already seen, the hunt for LTE-
capable spectrum – even more than the
grab for new subscribers – has led to
significant consolidation in the US market.
Leap Wireless and MetroPCS, the two
largest network-owning prepaid operators,
were scooped up by AT&T and T-Mobile
respectively. Another second-tier player,
US Cellular, sold off its big-city spectrum
to Sprint, which also bought itself a treasure
trove of spectrum in acquiring Clearwire.
And as 2014 dawned, a mega-merger of
Sprint and T-Mobile also appeared to be
on the table. The bottom line: operators
that take the conservative route in position-
ing themselves as LTE network and service
leaders risk getting left behind – and eventu-
ally gobbled up.
Beyond M&A, the competitive market
dynamics of LTE in the United States have
been fascinating to watch. On the more
premium end of the market, Verizon and
AT&T have turned to shared data plans and
tiered pricing to monetize their growing LTE
subscriber bases. The more subscribers –
and the more devices per subscriber – they
can move on to shared data plans, the better.
taken a similar route by leveraging their GSM
bases to move up the 4G ladder from HSPA
to HSPA+ to LTE. AT&T has made more
than 40 separate spectrum acquisitions –
including swaps or purchases from rivals
Verizon and T-Mobile, plus the acquisition
of smaller provider Leap Wireless – to cover
90% and counting of its territory with LTE.
Moving deeper into 2014, AT&T is augment-
ing that network in pieces, using airwaves in
the 1900-Mhz PCS and 2.3-GHz WCS bands
and aggressively re-farming spectrum from
its GSM and HSPA+ networks, while also
being perhaps the most aggressive advocate
of using small cells to augment coverage.
For its part, T-Mobile relied on HSPA+ as its
“4G” technology for quite some time before
aggressively deploying LTE in 2013, lever-
aging spectrum it acquired in the AT&T deal
breakup. Thanks to having quite healthy 20-
MHz channel LTE available in many major
cities ahead of rivals, T-Mobile has recently
been crowing that it’s the LTE speed king.
Speaking of speed (and new spectrum
configurations), Sprint is aiming to leapfrog
the competition by augmenting its in-prog-
ress LTE deployment via its so-called Spark
project, which will bring Clearwire’s 2.5-GHz
TD-LTE spectrum (more than 100 MHz in
some locations) into the mix, airwaves also
leveraged by new owner Softbank in Japan.

T-Mobile has emerged as the aggressor in
the market, not only touting its LTE network
speeds but also pitching its “Un-carrier”
approach of no contracts, no device subsi-
dies, cheap LTE service pricing, and more.
While mid-2012 to mid-2013 – arguably the
first 12 months of true LTE competition – saw
relatively little innovation in data and device
pricing, the US market has exploded of late
with creativity (verging, some would argue, on
a price war). Device upgrade programs, which
enable users to finance no-subsidy devices
while also ensuring upgrades to new devices
after as little as six months, have essentially
replaced traditional subsidy-driven two-year
contracts. For customers, that puts total cost
of ownership equations, and not just monthly
service fees, front-and-center. (For operators,
it equally elevates customer lifetime value
above monthly ARPU as the key financial
metric.) Indeed, with smartphone penetration
as high as 70% at some operators, the mission
has become to improve stickiness via quality
network service, frequent device upgrades
and the competitive landscape deter-
mine the right path forward. But don’t
lag, or other operators will pass you by.
• LTE offers room for service-delivery
and business-model experimentation.
The transition to 4G provides an oppor-
tunity for new entrants to shake things
up, while incumbents should leverage
any advantage to lock in new monetiza-
tion opportunities. Evolve not just network
• Aggressive LTE deployment creates a
data-driven business. US operators are
succeeding where their counterparts in
other regions have failed in countering
falling voice/SMS revenues. In 2014 the US
market will get the majority of its mobile
service revenues from mobile data (fig. 2).
• There’s no one “right” LTE approach
for every operator. Legacy network
considerations, spectrum holdings,
and, increasingly, complementary value-
added services ranging from streaming music
to digital home services and more. At the
same time, and because LTE customers are so
valuable, the US market is seeing aggressive
acquisition promotions for the first time in
quite a while. Managing that balance, between
attracting new customers and monetizing the
ones they have, will be job number one for US
operators in the next 12 months.
Lessons from the US LTE test lab
The US mobile market has some unique
characteristics: it has traditionally been
more postpaid on the services front and
subsidy-driven in terms of devices than
most other regions. Nonetheless, its
leading-edge experiences with LTE deploy-
ments and the competitive dynamics that
true 4G creates make it a test case well
worth watching. Among the key takeaways
and lessons learned from this pioneering
LTE market:
140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
Mobile Data Revenue
Mobile Voice Service Revenue
USDMillionsatdynamicexchangerates
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014F 2015F 2016F 2017F
The US will reach the voice-data crossover point in 2014
Figure 2. Strong US data-service adoption counters falling voice revenues.
Based on data from Yankee Group Mobile Broadband Forecast, October 2013.
The bottom line: operators that take the
conservative route in positioning themselves
as LTE network and service leaders risk getting
left behind – and eventually gobbled up.
Year F – Forecasted

Senior Analyst Rich Karpinski is the leader
of Yankee Group's mobile marketing and
commerce strategies and is also responsible
for North American mobile operator coverage.
In these roles, he focuses heavily on mobile
operator business models, service delivery
strategies, and the overall dynamics of the
mobile ecosystem. On the mobile commerce
front, his areas of focus include big data
analytics, proximity marketing / commerce,
and mobile retailer tools and strategies.
onversation on SAP Mobile Services
community here: http://bit.ly/OnBWWo
but also service and business-model KPI
metrics accordingly.
• Operators should be prepared for rapid
adoption and heavy use. Customers
want more bandwidth and the services
it enables. But be careful: those services
– in particular video – will rapidly eat up
additional bandwidth: while transitioning
from 3G voice to Voice over LTE provides
its own challenges.
• As the US market shows, the evolu-
tion to LTE impacts all aspects of the
mobile services business. Operators
must take that holistic view – seeing this
network transition as a business-model
opportunity rather than challenge – to
exit this crucial evolution on solid ground.
The shift toward cloud-based network
functionality and service deployment is a
given; the IPX merely accelerates the trend
and fosters this devolution though vastly
improved network delivery infrastructure
and quality of service (QoS), built-in
multilateral cascading business models,
and inherent cost advantages.
Quality, quality, quality
– THE IPX delivers
The “good enough” argument for public
internet delivery of cloud-based services
falters in general relative to the IPX, and
fails specifically relative to LTE, Rich
Communications Services (RCS), Voice
over LTE (VoLTE), and IP Multimedia
Subsystem (IMS) hubbing service scenarios
where carrier-grade network services and
associated QoS / cost of service (CoS)
guarantees are necessary to insure that
subscriber experience is maintained.
“Cloud-based,”“virtualized,”“distributed,”
“elastic,”“infinitely scalable,”“software-
defined” – sound familiar? Choose a clever
phrase, or perhaps even create your own,
for the cloud computing trend is clear, and
service providers of all stripes are fundamen-
tally altering how and where they develop and
deploy services, interoperate and interwork
with partners, and in the end provide sub-
scribers with a compelling user experience.
Key to this cloud package is the network
connectivity component, which is where
the IPX comes into play, and where debates
once again ignite: public internet versus
private networks/clouds; direct intercon-
nection and bilateral agreements versus the
hubbed and multilateral approach to linking
service and application providers and sub-
scribers. The IPX bridges the interwoven
realms of network quality, the traditional
service provider community, and access to
cloud-based providers and services.
The Skies Clear for IPX Delivery
of Cloud-Based Services
The IPX establishes the network connectivity and the
necessary quality for cloud-based services – and it reduces
time to market and decreases initial capital investments.
By Rich Lindstrom, Sales and Business Development,
IPX/RCS/LTE Roaming, SAP Mobile Services
PART 4: AMERICAS
The IPXbridges the interwoven realms of network
quality,the traditional service provider community,
and access to cloud-based providers and services.
The transition to 4G provides an opportunity
for new entrants to shake things up, while
incumbents should leverage any advantage
to lock in new monetization opportunities.

Sure, cloud computing assumes scalable,
elastic, and virtualized capabilities using
internet technologies, so there is an element
of network at least mentioned in passing.
But what cloud computing definitions do
not make explicit is a specific network
delivery mechanism, hence the potential
gap in QoS at the end-user level, depend-
ing upon the application and the network
connectivity utilized. QoS at the network
level becomes even more important as
sophisticated interoperability becomes
necessary to support Diameter and LTE
roaming, RCS interworking, and the trans-
lations associated with both legacy and
new messaging services, including of
course the over-the-top (OTT) evolution.
Here in the US mobile network operator
community, the trend seems to be a willing-
ness even among tier 1s to support initial
testing / new vendor appraisal / limited
product soft-launch over public internet,
but only as a temporary measure. Recently
an RCS manager at a US tier-1 operator
quipped: “Public internet is fine for email
and my kids at home, but live customer
traffic will go direct or via private IPX.”
Using public IP and temporarily postponing
a direct IPX interconnection shaves time off
a development cycle; but for live production
traffic under load, the IPX is the choice.
OTT providers remain more confident
in placing live customers over public
internet. Part of the reason for this may
be the nature of the services they develop
and offer, or perhaps the service-quality
tolerance levels of their current customer
bases; in any case, it will be interesting
to watch the evolution here in terms
of customer quality expectations and
underlying networks’ ability to deliver.
If one assumes that network quality is a
key dynamic in delivering a rich and consis-
tent subscriber experience, then the public
internet struggles as a reliable medium
and IPX private clouds prevail. (Please
consider any regional bias when evaluat-
ing/refuting this point, since ubiquitous
tier-1 IP connectivity is not the global norm
we here in North America typically expect.
As these services are delivered across
networks in other regions, public internet
quality fluctuates wildly. Private IPX con-
nectivity is the near exclusive standard for
connectivity to support LTE/Diameter in
most regions outside North America.)
Cost, speed, scale
While the network engineering/QoS
argument for the IPX as a medium for
cloud-based service delivery is strong, the
economic benefits are similarly convincing.
The rapid deployment of cloud-based
services, improved service delivery, and
time to market are overcoming traditional
arguments around bringing it in-house,
“lower costs, and support” of cascading
business models strengthens the cloud/
IPX argument further. From a commercial
perspective, high-quality cloud-based
access and service management via the
IPX to the global breadth of service provid-
ers, applications, communities, and peers
dwarf any cost advantage potentially
gained though public internet use.
Cloud-based IPX delivery also assumes
OpEx versus CapEx benefits, as virtualized
platforms make inroads against traditional
in-network platforms and service providers
avoid costly infrastructure investments
in nascent service areas. For instance, a
mid-size RCS deployment may require a
capital investment of millions of dollars,
versus a similar cloud-based hosted RCS
solution provided as a managed service
and delivered over the IPX for a monthly
service charge. Similarly, a Diameter Edge
Agent (DEA) deployment in support of an
operator’s LTE roaming is a significant
capital investment, compared to a monthly
operating expense when the DEA is hosted
in the IPX cloud model. Couple these signifi-
cant cost benefits with the idea that applica-
tion instances can be stood up rapidly and
scaled quickly, as required,“in the cloud,”
and that amounts to measureable,
meaningful value.
Enhanced quality of service, direct access
to a vast and diverse array of providers and
customers, reduced risk, and shortened
time to market, all packaged in a compelling
OpEx commercial bundle – the argument
for IPX delivery of cloud-based services is
sound and the trend is inevitable.
Rich Lindstrom has been a telecoms guy
for close to 20 years, with roles spanning
enterprise voice and data, international
carrier sales leadership, mobile operator
roaming, and applications business develop-
ment. He has created and executed strategic
sales and marketing plans at tier-1 global
service providers including Telecom New
Zealand and Global Crossing, as well as with
leading software and technology vendors
Sansay and SAP Mobile Services.
community here: http://bit.ly/Ovfw59
From a commercial perspective, high-quality cloud-based access
and service management via the IPX to the global breadth of
service providers, applications, communities, and peers dwarf
any cost advantage potentially gained though public internet use.

Telefónica has launched LTE services in
Brazil, Colombia, México, and Chile already.
Many more countries in Latin America will
get their LTE networks during 2014.
From a revenue perspective, the Latin
American market is small. Currently the
region represents only 10% of global mobile
revenue, but it’s growing fast. It was the sec-
ond-fastest growing market in 2012, at a
rate of 9%. It is also one of the most social
markets in the world, with consumers in
Latin America spending twice as many
hours (10) per month on social networking
sites than the global average, and making
up five of the top 10 national markets most
engaged with social content worldwide.1
Additionally, smartphone penetration
is increasing rapidly. According to recent
research from the consultancy Ovum,
smartphone penetration in South and
Central America grew by 170% in 2010-
12, to 34%. It is forecast to hit 84% by
2017, and Telefónica is ready to help
that number along. As the biggest barrier
to increased penetration is price, we
will offer deals and plans that help bring
smartphones within reach of the average
Latin American. We’re also support-
ing other platforms, such as Firefox OS,
that will make smartphones more afford-
able for customers in developing areas.
Roaming ahead of the curve
Telefónica is now the leading mobile
operator Latin America, covering 14 coun-
tries. In order to maintain our position, we
must continue to offer the best service
to our customers. And the best service
requires the best technology. LTE roaming
improves Telefónica’s position by both
securing additional revenues from roaming
partners and improving its competitiveness.
People want to talk wherever they are, and
they don’t want to be limited in who they
can reach. Obviously, Latin America and
Prioritizing roaming data
Obviously, LTE will create a huge increase in
data roaming, due to the simple fact that it
can handle more data faster. But not all data
are the same, which is why operators may
need to identify, prioritize, and price differ-
ent rates of transport. The highest-priority
roaming traffic, such as secure corporate
data, should receive the highest-quality
transport. This, in turn, means that lower-
priority traffic, such as internet browsing,
may have lower-quality transport.
To guarantee security and service levels,
operators must route roaming data back to
their home networks. However, this home-
routed traffic might suffer from transport
scalability issues, as well as latency issues,
degrading the customer experience for
common internet access. That’s why for
lower-priority traffic, operators can use local
breakout, or “farm out” that data to local
networks. Local breakout doesn’t necessar-
ily translate to lower quality; it means that
the home operator gives control over quality
and security to the local partner network,
and therefore cannot ensure the quality,
the United States will represent the highest
roaming traffic, but once customers have
LTE, they’ll expect worldwide roaming. That’s
what Telefónica will eventually provide.
Migrating to LTE
Offering LTE services doesn’t mean
Telefónica — or any operator — will be an
all-IP network in the short term (especially
considering that operators are still selling 2G
handsets in some markets!). It will be, rather,
a process of migration. Steadily, Diameter
signaling will replace Signaling System No.
7 (SS7). Voice and SMS services will stay on
2G and 3G until we can completely transition
over to LTE. Data services, wherever there
is LTE coverage, will make use of signaling
in Diameter where there are IPX providers.
It’s not a big switch; it’s a big process.
The IPX is a “private cloud” that provides two
important services that help this migration to
LTE. First, the IPX can help ensure the quality
of service in Diameter signaling. Second, it
provides a Diameter routing agent for opera-
tors who decide not to deploy one in-house.
Ramping Up LTE in Latin America
Telefónica is in the early stages of building out its Long Term
Evolution (LTE) network in Latin America, a market poised
to grow by leaps and bounds in the next five years.
By Pablo Alfageme, Head of Business Development, Latin America,
Telefónica Global Roaming, Telefónica
Smartphone penetration in South and Central
America grew by 170% in 2010-12, to 34%, and
is forecast to hit 84% by 2017.
FOOTNOTEs
1. 2013 Latin America Digital Future in Focus (comScore, May 2013):
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations_and_Whitepapers/2013/2013_Latin_
America_Digital_Future_in_Focus
PART 4: AMERICAS

9594
Preventing revenue
cannibalization
Today, consumers must buy different plans
for voice, SMS, and data. Once all these
services migrate over to LTE, there will be
just one plan, as all three services will have
though controlling customer expenditure.
Of course, customers will be more or less
willing to pay for high-priority routing based
on what they’re doing. Corporate customers
are more likely to value better security and
service compared to someone browsing the
Web while traveling with family.
to learn from Europe’s example, where reg-
ulatory “remedies” promoted with the aim
of protecting consumers actually hamper
the development of networks by burden-
ing network operators and discouraging the
development of the information society.
Pablo Alfageme leads the Telefónica business
development team for global roaming in
Latin America. He joined Telefónica Móviles
Spain in 1996, and has been participating
in the launch of mobile services ever since,
in both development and marketing roles.
Prior to this current position, he worked in
Telefónica’s wholesale department, leading
the interconnection, SMS premium, and
roaming teams at different times. He holds
a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Organization
from ICAI School of Engineering (Spain)
and a master’s degree in Manufacturing
Engineering and Management from the
University of Birmingham (UK).
community: http://bit.ly/1g2j5Mg
become data-based. We operators must
adapt our services before that happens,
so that our revenue streams don’t shrink
down to just one channel. The path forward
is value-added services. The challenge
is how to monetize them.
Selling services
As operators, we must remember that we
don’t sell technology. Customers don’t care
about LTE; they care about services. We
need to keep our focus on leveraging new
technology to give customers more of what
they want. In Latin America, this means
better access to business contacts, family,
and friends through voice, mobile internet,
social media, and other services. It’s all the
benefits of smartphones and their apps.
More exciting is mobile gaming, which will
increasingly become high-definition media,
even 3D media. It’s not something so
different than what we offer today. All of
these services are in place already, but
LTE will make them more accessible, more
user-friendly. That will be the difference.
Last but not least, the Latin American
telecom market should take the opportunity
As operators, we must remember that we don’t sell technology.
Customers don’t care about LTE; they care about services.
10%
34%
5/10
10 9%
Latin America represents
just 10% of global mobile
revenue but it’s growing fast.
Latin America was the
second-fastest growing
market in 2012, at a rate
of 9%.
Latin America has five of the
top 10 national markets most
engaged with social content
worldwide.
Smartphone penetration is
increasing rapidly. Smartphone
penetration in South and
Central America grew by
170% in 2010-12, to 34%.
Consumers in Latin America
spend twice as many hours
(10) per month on social
networking sites than the
global average.
per
month

that companies and brands look to leverage
the opportunity to draw in potential
customers. Yesterday’s world was about
one-way customer interactions; today,
engagement anywhere on any device to
ensure a positive experience is important.
In response, 62% of businesses are
prioritizing mobile as a way to improve
customer responsiveness.
Gold mine of big-data
opportunities
Businesses and advertisers are quickly
finding that mobile behavior information
– specifically in real time – is critical to
improving many business initiatives. This
trend solidifies the importance businesses
now place on turning vast amounts of data
into immediate insight. Consequently, it is
extremely important to mobile network oper-
ators (MNOs), which sit on a gold mine of
data regarding subscribers’ usage patterns.
Mobile is resetting the parameters of
how businesses engage their customers.
Yankee Group’s 2013 US Consumer Survey,
December finds that 66% of advanced users
leverage mobile apps for shopping, checking
coupons, and comparing pricing (fig. 1).
Among respondents, 60% say they frequently
use their mobile device for entertainment,
61% say their phone is highly important to
their social lives, and 57% say they use it to
stay up to date on the latest information.1
In 2013 the mobile services market crossed
the seven-billion-connection and $1-trillion-
revenue marks globally. Mobile lines are
also increasingly 4G-capable, with global
LTE lines set to grow from 123 million in
2013 to 1.3 billion in 2017 (including a jump
in the United States from 72 million to 181
million). The number of connected users
is staggering, creating an unparalleled
opportunity for businesses to harness big
data for improved marketing. Given that
mobile devices are deeply embedded in
consumers’ daily routines, it’s only natural
analyzed. However, MNOs face challenges
in integrating subscriber profile data with
detailed mobile usage behavior data in near
real time because of their monolithic traditional
IT infrastructures and solutions that have fallen
short in handling large sets of high-speed and
complex, yet valuable, data. This creates the
“operator big-data dilemma.”
Each day MNOs capture billions of network
events consisting of structured and unstruc-
tured information on their customers – their
gender, age, device (make, model, and OS),
activities, location, applications, and so on –
further fueling the exponential growth in
data. This massive volume of information
must be captured, aggregated, stored, and
Exploiting the Operator Big-Data
Dilemma for the Future Digital Economy
Mobile changes consumer behaviors.
By Sheryl Kingstone, Director, Mobile Leadership Strategies, Yankee Group
Businesses looking to
engage with customers on
mobile apps and devices.
Advanced users leveraging
mobile apps for shopping,
checking coupons, and
comparing pricing.
Customers who would
share personal information
for better rewards.
62% 66% 43%
Consumers are active users of mobile devices and apps
Figure 1. Mobile devices and apps have become a part of consumers' everyday lives.
Based on data fom Yankee Group's 2013 US Consumer Survey, December.
FOOTNOTEs
1. 2013 US Consumer Survey, December (Yankee Group, December 2013):
http://www.yankeegroup.com/ResearchDocument.do?id=61588
PART 4: AMERICAS

capitalize on the opportunity, businesses
must get past the old Web-based metrics of
page views and broad-based demographics
and instead leverage big data to uncover and
measure real-world behavioral data. This
insight can then be used to build extremely
targeted and customized engagement
strategies that deliver high marketing ROI.
Solving the problem will be crucial to
meeting businesses’ goals for mobile
customer engagement (fig. 2).
MNOs can either monetize their data for
internal use or become valuable partners
of the big-data ecosystem for their own
enterprise customers. The industry can
add real value by capitalizing on big-data
assets and combine the variety of data
available. Big-data intelligence will ultimately
allow brands to strengthen relationships
with consumers through more targeted
and context-specific marketing efforts.
For example, MNOs can:
• Improve location-based opportunities.
New opportunities to monetize location
information based on MNO data assets
are at their immediate disposal, and
not readily available to other vendors.
MNOs have a huge opportunity to capitalize
on their mobile network data by leveraging
the latest analytics, in-memory, and cloud
technologies. MNOs need to collect, analyze,
and monetize real-time and micro-segmented
subscriber big data for their customers who
want to unlock and monetize mobile
consumer insights and market intelligence.
Businesses are desperate to move beyond
traditional marketing methods, such as
consumer panels and surveys, to improve
marketing with consumer behavior, insights,
and market intelligence. Operators have
unique assets contained within user-location
data, CRM systems, and billing information.
Mobile usage is putting location at center
stage when it comes to marketing strategies.
As businesses demand more hyper-local
marketing strategies, location will play a
pivotal role in driving engagement and
building loyalty.
Business demands flourish
Mobile marketing has a bright future, but
only for players that have the insight to
understand who their customers are, where
they are, what they are willing to spend, and
why they are making purchases. To truly
Identifying high-value customers Improving customer retention
and engagement
Use mobile data to track and
measure user experience
Analyze segments with the highest total lifetime
values to further fine-tune mobile marketing
Run in-app marketing based on which
hours of the day users are most engaged
Running campaigns
Understand user behaviour on mobile
application for marketing campaigns
Creating segmentation models
How are you meeting your business goals for mobile customer engagement?
Figure 2. Big data provides more customer-engagement opportunities.
Based on data fom Yankee Group's 2013 US Consumer Survey, December.
51%
66%
60%
67%

Using that insight, the retailer can
measure the impact or effectiveness of
a new marketing or ad campaign. Add-
itionally, businesses can create a more
accurate target persona – a sports
enthusiast and frequent diner, for example.
• Tie together a cross-channel experi-
ence. Advertisers that launch TV cam-
paigns at specific times, such as during
major sporting events, can potentially
understand what users did during ad
breaks, such as visiting websites. Addition-
ally, bricks-and-mortar stores could garner
more complete insight into what sites
their customers visit while at the store.
The goal is a cohesive understanding of all
media consumption and/or to measure
consumer activity across channels.
• Focus on loyalty. Geo-fencing and prox-
imity marketing enable real-time interac-
tions, but context is where the rubber hits
the road. Creating rich customer profiles
Location-based services can reveal where
an individual is at a specific point in time
and then offer those subscribers locally
relevant offers.
• Drive change by predicting the future.
Additional insight can allow MNOs to
know more about where groups of indi-
viduals are during a certain time period.
This provides a greater degree of insight
into people’s behavior, allowing MNOs
to predict future behavior patterns. The
ability to measure, compare, and under-
stand what factors influence the number
of people visiting a location at any time is
incredibly useful for market intelligence
departments.
• Launch unique persona segmentation.
A retailer addressing the youth market
can identify trends in a shopping mall
by looking at that specific demographic
group. It can also identify how often and
on what days the group visits the mall.
Sheryl Kingstone is a director of Yankee
Group's Mobile Leadership Strategies service,
with a focus on improving the customer
experience across all interaction channels
for customer acquisition and loyalty. She is
a well-known industry analyst in the CRM
market, with more than 20 passionate years'
experience devoted to helping businesses
eliminate customer frustration across sales,
service, and marketing. As a recognized
thought leader in the CRM space, she was
awarded the 2006 CRM Influential Leaders
Award and was also the first female to be
inducted in the CRM Hall of Fame.
community here: http://bit.ly/1fQyxdg
to drive loyalty campaigns enables
an unparalleled depth and breadth of
customer segmentation, which can be
used for improved customer engage-
ment strategies based on individual pref-
erences and usage patterns. The future
is all about combining precision location,
such as indoor positioning, with customer
context to suggest the right offer to the
right person at the right time.
Big data is a key building block for the future
digital economy. Fundamentally, it must be
utilized in a transparent and responsible way
in order to realize its potential to transform
business and improve people’s lives. It’s not
just about capturing one moment in time,
but also about understanding trend data
collated over time to build insights about
location and support decisions relating to
those places and segments within them.
Operator big-data intelligence is providing
businesses with a better understanding,
in a comprehensive way, of the needs,
trends, and behaviors of users, not only to
improve their own decision-making, but
also to contribute to mobile marketing
and advertising goals.
Big data is a key building block
for the future digital economy.

ecosystem, impacting operator networks
and subscribers. SIM boxes and third party
email-to-SMS gateways provide a fresh,
lucrative means for “creative advertis-
ing” that is constantly evolving in scope
and complexity. In the short term, these
attacks can cause a degradation of service
and subscriber trust in the medium, leading
to customer churn, increased operational
costs, and a loss of revenue for operators.
In the long term, a lack of subscriber trust
will inhibit mobile operators from monetizing
new market opportunities. As such, mobile
operators need sophisticated methods for
battling SMS spam and protecting their sub-
scribers and investment.
Know thy target
Knowing your audience is the key to selling
anything, and scams are no exception.
How one goes about knowing an audience
varies by the messaging medium, however.
For example, Nigerian 419 scammers from
For years, mobile service providers have
operated in a “walled garden,” allowing them
to effectively insulate subscribers from the
messaging threats that have long plagued
other communications mediums. The result
has been a fertile mobile ecosystem wherein
users around the globe invest a large degree
of trust in their devices and the messages
received on them. Mobile devices and SMS
messages have in turn become integral
parts of both routine and mission-critical
tasks. For operators, this trust-engrained
communication vector has proven to be an
ever more profitable service as associated
costs have lowered.
Several years ago, unlimited texting plans
and new methods of attack exponentially
improved the profitability of SMS spamming,
encouraging email spammers to cross
over to the mobile world. Large numbers of
attackers have since caught on to the ease
and relative inexpensiveness of the SMS
medium. SMS-based spam and fraud are
now rapidly eroding the base of the mobile
the email realm craft outlandish, unbeliev-
able messages specifically targeting more
“receptive” victims. Those willing to respond
are far more likely to fall for the rest of the
con, thus yielding a better return on the time
and money invested.
While some email domains can hint at their
country of origin, most tend to transcend
borders. Some attempts are made to send
emails in the same language as the email’s
domain, but it’s a glancing attempt at target-
ing users. Mobile phones and SMS do not
enjoy the same luxury. Instead, modern
telephone numbers are highly specific to
each country and therefore ripe for geo-
graphically targeted mobile phone calls
and SMS messages.
Geo-targeting via SMS
For routing purposes, when one dials or
sends an SMS to any set country calling
code, it will most likely be received in
that country. Spammers can also order
carrier-specific SIM cards in bulk, allowing
them to send large quantities of SMS
messages from within that network or
country. There even exist third-party
vendors that offer setup services for
remote SIM farms in a desired locale.
Scam-Busters
How SMS phishing uses area codes in credit
union, bank, and child support scams.
By Neil Cook, Chief Technology Officer, Cloudmark
PART 4: AMERICAS
SMS-based spam and fraud are now rapidly
eroding the base of the mobile ecosystem,
impacting operator networks and subscribers.
Spammers can also
order carrier-specific
SIM cards in bulk,
allowing them to send
large quantities of SMS
messages from within
that network or country.

The reason for these three area codes
featuring so high on the list is quite simple:
junk cars. A local junk car reseller/scrapper
has decided that SMS is a lucrative vector
for “advertising.” However, towing junk
automobiles is only lucrative within certain
distances, due to the cost of transportation,
and as a result they have targeted fellow local
residents of south Florida using the most
populated area codes. The sheer volume of
this ongoing, region-specific SMS campaign
has led to public outcry and even lawsuits
against several suspected perpetrators.
Bank-phishing
Specificity is a powerful tool for bank-phish-
ing attempts as well. The use of any details
that are seemingly personal to the recipient
can aid phishers in attempts to impersonate
financial institutions. By tricking misguided
victims into believing the ruse, attackers are
able to elicit sensitive personal and financial
details from the victims.
One tried-and-true method for doing this is
by providing the first four to six digits of the
target’s debit or credit card number. Users
receiving these messages may see what
they believe to be their bank providing the
exact leading digits of their own personal
Spammers have used this to their advantage
for delivering a myriad of country-specific
offers via SMS. In the UK, government-
mandated compensation for mis-sold
payment protection insurance (PPI) sparked
a wildfire of PPI-compensation SMS spam
that continues to this day. Either from local
SIM cards or from abroad, the number prefix
07 directs to the allocated number space
for mobile phones. This allows spammers
to aim their SMS campaigns directly at UK
mobile devices.
Phone numbers in the United States are
a bit different. Aside from certain blocks,
most numbers are allocated by geograph-
ical region via three-digit area codes. For
instance, those who’ve taken up residence
in the Manhattan borough of New York City
have either a 212 or 646 area code that
prepends their mobile phone number.
Those mobile subscribers unfortunate
enough to have the Fort Lauderdale,
Florida-based area code of 954 will likely
see more SMS spam than most others
in the United States. By volume, Fort
Lauderdale ranked number one for most
SMS spam received in 2013 (as of August).
Not far behind, in fourth and fifth place
respectively, were the neighboring area
codes of Miami, 786 and 305.
Upon further inspection of US area codes,
a pattern emerged. Each and every one
had been hit with a phishing attack custom-
tailored to a bank or credit union head-
quartered in or specific to that area.
Cincinnati’s 513 ranked second in volume
and was inundated with fake Fifth Third
Bank SMS phishing messages. Fifth Third
Bank also happens to be headquartered
in Cincinnati. The aforementioned 216 of
Cleveland came in third, due to SMS
messages claiming to be from the city’s
own KeyBank. Residents of North Alabama
were targeted via their 256 area codes with
texts impersonating another local credit
union, WinSouth. Susquehanna Valley
Federal Credit Union was mimicked in its
own 717 backyard.
Three of the top 10 area codes for
bank-phishing sat as exceptions to the
city-focused trend. Bank-phishing in 828,
910, and 919 – all in the state of North
Carolina – took a turn as messages flooded
in imitating smiONE, a prepaid Visa debit
card. The issuer of this card, Bancorp Bank,
is not specifically located in North Carolina,
however smiONE provides a prepaid debit
card service in North Carolina called the
ncKIDScard. The ncKIDScard is meant
to be used specifically for paying child
support in North Carolina. An alarming 8%
card. Unfortunately, those who are taken
in by the ploy don’t realize that these are
publicly available numbers, which simply
identify the industry and issuer of the card.
Even prolific financial institutions can
suffer from geo-targeting. Cleveland-based
KeyBank was the target of one such attack
in 2013. Forty-seven percent of all KeyBank
SMS phishing attempts hit Cleveland, Ohio’s
216 area code. A total of 63% of messages
were reported in KeyBank’s primary state of
operation, Ohio, while the bank’s other two
primary areas of operation, New York State
and Seattle, Washington, saw the remaining
37%. The distribution of this phishing attack
appears to have been highly deliberate:
spanning states from coast to coast, these
messages explicitly targeted only the three
regions most important to KeyBank.
Other campaigns have taken this a step
further, to a city-specific resolution. A
breakdown of SMS bank-phishing attempts
by area code revealed that 210, of San
Antonio, Texas, had received the highest
volume of these messages as of August
in 2013. Almost all of the messages affecting
the area masqueraded as a fraud alert from
Generations Federal Credit Union, which
happens to be based in, and primarily
operates in, San Antonio.
The use of any details that are seemingly personal to the recipient
can aid phishers in attempts to impersonate financial institutions.

107106
Other
68%
North Carolina
8%
310 3%
817 3%
717 3%
256 3%
216 3%
513, Cincinnati
4%
210, San Antonio
5%
Implementing an effective solution allows
operators to avoid delivery of these
messages, thus protecting subscribers
and safeguarding mobile operators from
customer churn, increased operational
costs, and loss of revenue. In addition,
operators may be able to slow or avoid
subscriber migration to OTT channels by
providing SMS security to users before the
medium’s reputation becomes tarnished
much like email. By continuing to offer
quality, trusted networks around the world,
operators can implement a means for
decreasing the cost of SMS while retaining
and expanding its revenue stream.
Neil Cook has more than 20 years’experience
in mobile and internet messaging and security,
designing scalable and secure solutions for
telecommunications companies globally.
At Cloudmark, he led the EMEATechnology
Services team and some of the company's
largest deployments. He was an integral part
of the company's research and design activi-
ties before becoming CTO in 2012.
community here: http://bit.ly/1ogHaQv
of all SMS bank-phishing attempts in the
United States hit these three combined area
codes in 2013 (fig. 1) – it is sad to see that
even children are not exempt from the
phishers’ exploits. While phishers seek to
swindle child support from residents across
North Carolina, it’s important to note that
any questions or concerns you may have
regarding an account should be directed to
the legitimate phone number provided on
the back of your credit or debit card.
The need for SMS security
Protecting networks and subscribers
against these types of dynamic attacks
can be difficult, but it is imperative in
order to preserve future revenue streams.
Effective content-filtering solutions require
monitoring both on- and off-network
SMS message flows. As spammer tactics
change rapidly, the solution must operate
in real time and quickly evolve against
highly dynamic attacks. The most effective
solutions will leverage a global threat
network enabling mobile operators to
identify attacks regardless of geographic
boundaries. Finally, the solution should
function across multiple platforms, as
attacks may originate in email before
migrating to SMS.
NC-910
3%
NC-919
2%
NC-828
3%
Figure 1. Phishing attacks target specific area codes in the United States.
Based on data from Cloudmark.
Received SMS bank-phishing messages by area code, 2013 (to August)

109108
• It requires no third-party app. The app
is built into the mobile operating system
that ships with the phone.
• It requires no login or account setup.
Your phone number is the global identifier.
• It’s asynchronous. There is no presence
indicator telling people that you are typing
which alleviates the pressure you may
otherwise feel to reply immediately.
• It’s inherently succinct. Although most
GSM phones these days will concate-
nate longer messages for the sender and
receiver, the brevity of a text message
means it’s not email. Texting allows for
quick, efficient communication.
• It’s intimate. We mainly text with our
friends and family, but we’re increasingly
open to texts from businesses if it’s useful
It’s no secret: people everywhere love to
text message. It is the most popular and
fastest growing communication medium on
the planet. There are more texts everyday
than voice calls. An increasing population
would rather send a text than leave a voice
message. The next wave of text messaging
innovation will only solidify the medium’s
place in our lives for years to come.
Why is texting so pervasive
in our lives?
• It just works. SMS is the public messag-
ing standard. We’ve known for years that
we can call anywhere globally and now,
with the inter-carrier connectivity, we
can message anywhere too.
• It’s ubiquitous. 100% of phones globally
are equipped with SMS capability.
to how we have seen other mobile instant
messengers like AOL, MSN, and Yahoo come
and go in the past 10 years.
Is Rich Communications
Services (RCS) going to
replace text messaging?
Eventually yes, but not for another five years
or so. In addition to operator efficiencies,
RCS brings the promise of the enhanced
services to consumers that are offered by
many OTT applications. Once all operators
globally have implemented RCS and con-
sumers have upgraded to RCS-compliant
phones, you will see RCS replace traditional
SMS and MMS. To the consumer it will still
be text messaging – that is, they will still use
their phone’s native messaging app – only
now they will be able to send texts while
on an airplane, to video conference, to
share files, and more.
What is the next wave of text
messaging innovation?
We are seeing enormous pent-up demand
for cloud texting services, which includes
to our lives – for example, receiving a text
from the airline about a flight delay.
• It’s one of the few smartphone alerts
customers keep turned on. In the age
of smartphones where we’re inundated
by apps notifications, but we give high
priority to SMS. We don’t alert on email
because it’s too noisy, and we can live
without most others.
I thought text messaging was
going to be slowly replaced by
OTT players who claim to be taking
messaging market share in the
United States and globally?
Not a chance. Because of the proliferation of
unlimited texting (SMS and MMS) plans in
the United States, there is no OTT threat to
US operators. Texting in the United States
is bundled among other services, so we
don’t have to worry about costly overages
like we did a decade ago. Internationally
this is not the case, hence why you see
micro-market dominance by some OTT
players. As operators globally continue to
decrease their pricing toward free, you will
see these OTT players fade away, similarly
The Next Wave of Text Messaging
Get ready to communicate via SMS to any phone number,
whether it’s mobile, landline, or toll free, and from non-phone
devices like your PC, laptop, tablet, and TV.
By John Lauer, CEO, Zipwhip
PART 4: AMERICAS
Texting allows for quick, efficient communication.

111110
sending and receiving text messages under
your mobile, landline, or even your toll-free
phone number from non-phone devices like
your PC, laptop, tablet,TV, and so on.This
demand is from individual consumers as well
as small, medium, and enterprise businesses.
What do you mean, “cloud texting
for my mobile number”?
This means allowing customers to access
their text messaging service from any device
with an internet connection. Similarly to how
you access your Gmail account from any
device today, consumers want to be able
to send and receive texts from any device.
Solutions like Verizon Messages or AT&T
In-App Messaging allow customers to
experience text messaging on non-phone
devices under their existing mobile numbers.
Why would anyone want to
text from a landline or toll-
free number?
In North America the biggest innovation
already taking place in this next wave
is landline and toll-free-number text
This next wave of text messaging will be
about access beyond the mobile phone
and the ability of consumers to com-
municate via SMS with any phone number,
whether it’s tied to an individual’s mobile
phone, the local pizza place, or the airline’s
toll-free customer support center. Text
messaging in this next wave will connect
consumers to not just the people in their
lives, but also the entities of their choosing.
John Lauer is CEO of Zipwhip and a leading
expert on the text messaging industry.
Prior to Zipwhip, he was founder and CEO
of Simplewire, one of the first SMS aggre-
gators. He has served on several industry
boards including the Mobile Marketing
Association, the Landline Texting Working
Group, and the newly formed Toll Free
Texting Association.
community here: http://bit.ly/1gy1eeM
messaging. Because of the inter-operator
hub model in the United States, landline and
toll-free numbers can now be provisioned
for SMS on wireless operator networks.
Once provisioned, customers can send
and receive texts from supporting applica-
tions (web, desktop, tablet, and so on). This
means that landline operators (LEC, CLEC,
and so on) who have only offered voice
service can now offer SMS on all their phone
numbers. Any owner of a landline or toll-free
phone number can begin text messaging
using that number without interruption of
their existing voice service. Millions of small
and medium businesses can text-enable the
voice number they have promoted for years.
Consumers want to text, not call, the busi-
nesses in their lives. They want to interact
on their own terms, in their own time, and
texting allows them to do this. The conve-
nience and ease of sending a quick text to
ask a question, schedule an appointment,
place an order, provide feedback, and check
on a payment allows consumers to interact
with a business without lengthy waiting
times on hold. This intimate interaction
builds brand loyalty, increases customer
satisfaction, and creates operational effi-
ciency for businesses.
This next wave of
text messaging will be
about access beyond
the mobile phone and
the ability of consumers
to communicate via SMS
with any phone number,
whether it’s tied to an
individual’s mobile phone,
the local pizza place,
or the airline’s toll-free
customer support center.

113112
the brand name joyn. RCS 5.1, the most
current release, is not branded under joyn,
and operators will likely move to 5.1 and
not take part in joyn. (See box: “Three Must-
Haves for Rich Communications Services.”)
The GSMA is counting on more operators
and device manufacturers to join the RCS
ecosystem and help build momentum.
Subscriber interest in RCS should be quite
strong, given the services on offer: both
voice and messaging plus chat, video calls,
group chat, file transfer, presence, IP voice
call, and geolocation. Currently RCS is more
popular in Europe because more operators
are offering it, to compete with OTT players
such as Skype and WhatsApp. European
operators’ decision to charge per text mes-
sage or for data caused many subscribers
Texting is so prevalent that middle-schoolers
and retirees are tapping out messages with
equal abandon. North Americans typically
send SMS texts, while Europeans favor
using an over-the-top (OTT) messaging
app. Globally, users of all ages are seeking
out OTT apps for texting. Based on Informa
Telecoms & Media research, subscribers
will send 50 billion OTT messages and 21
billion SMS messages each day in 2014.1
The GSMA is working with mobile operators
to respond to this shift away from operator
services like SMS by bundling multiple,
popular communication services within
Rich Communications Services (RCS) that
connect over a shared IP Multimedia Sub-
system (IMS). Created by the GSMA, RCS
is marketed by a handful of operators under Next up, more devices and
broader searches
Success hinges on operators’ willingness to
co-operate and interconnect their networks.
SMS became popular after interconnecting
gave subscribers an easy, ubiquitous way to
text across networks. RCS is poised to follow
to move to the OTT players’ free options.
US subscribers, who are not charged per
text, have not signed up for OTT services
at the high rates seen in Europe, nonethe-
less US operators are also seeing a decline
in SMS usage (fig. 1). RCS is a reason for lost
subscribers to return to their carriers and
for current subscribers to stay.
Move Over SMS, Here Comes RCS
Mobile operators are planning for Rich Communications
Services to regain market share lost to free over-the-top
services. It’s time to put aside competition and co-operate
over standards and internetworking.
By Adrian Synal, Principal Engineer,
System Design and Strategy, T-Mobile USA
SMS growth in US
Figure 1. SMS revenue and traffic was on the decline in 2012.
Based on data from Chetan Sharma Consulting 2012 http://www.chetansharma.com
FOOTNOTEs
1. "OTT messaging traffic will be twice volume of P2P SMS traffic this year" (Informa, 30 April
2013). http://www.informa.com/Media-centre/Press-releases--news/Latest-News/OTT-
messaging-traffic-will-be-twice-volume-of-P2P-SMS-traffic-this-year/
PART 4: AMERICAS
0
200
400
600
800
Q312
Q112
Q311
Q111
Q310
Q110
Q109
Q108
Q107
Q309
Q308
Q307
Q306
Q212
Q411
Q211
Q410
Q210
Q409
Q408
Q407
Q406
Q209
Q208
Q207
Q206
SMS/month/user
Quarter/year

a similar path – if operators and OTT
players agree to co-operate.
Operators will find the current RCS release
interesting as it adds an option for enabling
standalone messaging rather than only ses-
sion-based chat. Also, operators can choose
between OMA-CPM (Converged IP Messag-
ing) and SIMPLE IM based implementations.
In the next release, enhancements around
file transfer and presence, plus opening RCS
to other devices such as televisions and
browsers, will be added.
RCS subscribers can also look forward
to gaining access to broader searches for
contact information not in their address
books. Typing in a contact name will start
a search that extends to global address
books. Subscribers will have access to
a much larger set of contact information
and be able to communicate beyond their
personal phone contact list.
Mass adoption needs network
interconnection
While chat, video calls, and messaging
are often seen as having a younger
RCS offer much more than basic texting
or one-dimensional apps. Ten years from
now, RCS has the potential to replace
SMS and MMS altogether, if – and it’s a big
if – operators and OTT players commit to
interconnecting and give RCS a prominent
space on the handset. RCS is a chance
for operators to lead a change to IMS and
offer subscribers a better, easier way to
communicate with a set of apps they
already know and enjoy.
Adrian Synal has been in the wireless
industry for 12 years in multiple roles.
Currently, he is focused on architecting
next-generation IP-based messaging
and IMS services.
community here: http://bit.ly/1gy1k6e
demographic, RCS appeals across demo-
graphics, age groups, and regions. These
aren’t age-specific services designed for
a younger generation; anyone with a smart-
phone is a good candidate for RCS.
Consumers and businesses are target
markets for RCS. With RCS at their finger-
tips, consumers get convenient access to
a rich set of services, rather than one app
for chat, a different one for video calls,
and another for text. They no longer
have to switch from one app to another
to communicate.
Businesses, especially small and medium-
sized organizations, can enrich their com-
munications by setting up an easy-to-use
internal portal with messaging, file sharing,
IP voice calls, and other RCS options. RCS
has industry-defined APIs and third-party
SDKs that open up this type of portal, and
operators can offer support and manage-
ment services for these portals.
The GSMA has brought leading mobile
operators and device manufacturers to
the RCS table, and they are already setting
the groundwork to make the shift to RCS
a reality. The combined dimensions of
Three Must-Haves for Rich
Communications Services
1) Interconnection among all
operators. At the close of 2013,
Vodafone Spain, Movistar, Orange Spain,
Vodafone Germany, Deutsche Telekom,
T-Mobile, SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+
had embraced RCS and were offering it
under joyn. Many more of the hundreds
of operators worldwide need to join the
RCS effort to make the services viable.
2) A unified, high-quality experience.
When subscribers move to a new pro-
vider or purchase a new handset, their
RCS experiences should remain stable
and consistent.
3) Easy access. Using RCS should be
easy from the handset, desktop, or
whatever screen you’re using. It needs
to be an embedded experience that pro-
vides easy, immediate access to RCS.

especially interested in these services.
For them, alternatives that let them text
or place calls for free always win out over
anything the incumbents are offering.
With so many such apps out on the market,
Pinger knew it had to separate itself from
the pack very quickly. We were the first
app to start giving out free mobile phone
numbers, so subscribers could send SMS
messages from non-phone devices – an
iPod Touch or an iPad, for instance – as long
as they were on a persistent data connection
such as Wi-Fi.
By giving people a real phone number, we’ve
changed the game drastically and innovated
around how people want to communicate.
Texting from client to client is nothing new,
but all parties need to be running the same
app. With Pinger, users can send and receive
real SMS messages through their own phone
number from anywhere in the world totally
free of charge. For people who normally
couldn’t send a text message, including iPod
Touch and iPad users or someone who has
a “hand-me-down” phone that’s no longer
The words “innovation” and “communica-
tions” don’t often occur in the same breath
when you’re listening to traditional commu-
nications service providers. Most have
enjoyed monopoly status for decades, and
only in the past 30 years have they had to
deal with real competition.
Today, that competition is taking the form
of over-the-top (OTT) players that deliver
communications services while largely,
if not completely, bypassing the telco
networks’ traditional economic infrastruc-
ture. OTT players have hit upon some-
thing that’s capturing the interest of people
around the world and making the carriers
take notice. (See box: “What Happened
over the Top in 2013.”)
Standing out from the pack
Upstarts like Pinger are snapping up cus-
tomers who might not normally send a
text message. People in developing nations
who often can’t afford or don’t have access
to landline or cellular connectivity are
connected to a cellular network, having a
phone number is critical.
Take college students, for example, many
of whom don’t want traditional phone plans
due to financial reasons. They can use a
client-to-client app like Skype, WhatsApp,
or Viber, but if they have to call the bursar’s
office or a bank, they can’t rely on the other
party having the same app. They need the
ability to talk to phone numbers, and that’s
where a service like ours becomes valuable.
More than 100 million people have down-
loaded our various apps. Users get our
service for free in exchange for unobtrusive
ads, or for a nominal fee of $6 a year we take
out the ads. Interestingly, most users have
chosen the free option. This model allowed
us to build a profitable business, and it
worked right away.
We’ve found success focusing on users
who have Wi-Fi-enabled devices but no
cellular connectivity, and with people who
may not be happy with the economics of
their phones but still need to have a phone
number. Small businesses that need an
extra phone number are also interested
in our services.
OTTs Take Up the Mantle
of Communications Innovation
With texting and chatting becoming free commodities, how do
over-the-top players innovate and stand out in a crowded field?
By Greg Woock, Co-Founder and CEO, Pinger
PART 4: AMERICAS
We’ve found success
focusing on users who
have Wi-Fi-enabled
devices but no cellular
connectivity, and with
people who may not
be happy with the
economics of their
phones but still need to
have a phone number.

119118
photos much more to communicate, so
we want to see how this plays out.
I firmly believe that the intersection of
social networks and private communications
needs to be more fully explored. In the end,
it’s about finding new and interesting ways
to communicate that are above and beyond
just texting.
Greg Woock is co-founder and CEO at
Pinger. Prior to Pinger, he was CEO of
Virgin Electronics, the consumer electronics
arm of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group,
Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Hand-
spring/Palm, and Vice President of Sales at
Creative Labs. He brings to Pinger an excep-
tional executive track record of building
successful teams, products, and companies.
community here: http://bit.ly/1gy2mPB
to run on their phones. Today, those apps
are incredibly rich, diverse, and powerful.
Once that application layer was opened up
to consumer choice, we saw a tremendous
transformation in how people communicate.
But what’s next? On the economic side,
we’ll see a change in how communications
services are priced. With all the free
choices out there, we’ll likely see the telcos
catch up to that model. The carriers will
quickly realize they can’t charge a wild
amount of money for something that can
be had for free.
At Pinger, we have a global view of commu-
nications. Today most of our users are in the
United States, but we want to go beyond
our home base. Most operators worldwide
aren’t inclined to allow connectivity to their
networks for apps like ours. Yet probably
half a billion people per month connect to
these services around the world.
To get to the level of success we’ve had
in the United States on a global level, we’ll
be innovating around messaging and com-
munications. Snapchat has hit upon this
really well with what are essentially throw-
away images: you take a picture, send it,
and it’s gone, not hogging up precious
space on your phone. We’re finding that
kids under 18 are using pictures and
The carriers react
A lot has been said about circumventing the
carrier network and delivering free commu-
nications services, but with so many alterna-
tives on the market, you have to go beyond
being free to make an impact. In the long
term, it’s about showing how you’re differ-
ent from everyone else in the market and
having a great service that people really like.
We hear a lot about how telcos and OTTs
need each other to survive, but that’s not
always true. To partner for access to a telco’s
large user base hasn’t been necessary for
quite a while. Instead, OTTs rely more on
word of mouth and reputation, or on people
seeing an app ranked highly in the App
Store, than an established customer base.
T-Venture, the investment arm of Deutsche
Telekom, one of the largest telecommunica-
tions companies in the world, is among our
investors. Their investment shows that
they see what’s happening and are doing
something about it.
The next stage of
communications services
Steve Jobs’ gift to the mobile world was to
allow the customer to decide which apps
What Happened
Over the Top in 2013
•• Skype reached 2 billion minutes
in a single day.1
•• WhatsApp handled 27 billion chat
messages a day.2
•• Snapchat sent 350 million picture
messages a day and went from zero
to a market cap of $3 billion.3
FOOTNOTES
1. Elisa Steele, "Thanks for Making
Skype a Part of Your Daily Lives – 2
Billion Minutes a Day!" Big Blog (Skype,
3 April 2013): http://blogs.skype.
com/2013/04/03/thanks-for-making-
skype-a-part-of-your-daily-lives-2-
billion-minutes-a-day/
2. "New daily record: 10B+ msgs sent
(inbound) and 17B+ msgs received
(outbound) by our users = 27 Billion
msgs handled in just 24 hours!"
(WhatsApp, 12 June 2013):
https://twitter.com/WhatsApp/
status/344966710241161216
3. Evelyn M. Rusli and Douglas MacMilan,
"Snapchat Spurned $3 Billion Acquisition
Offer from Facebook," Wall Street Journal
(13 November 2013): http://blogs.wsj.
com/digits/2013/11/13/snapchat-
spurned-3-billion-acquisition-offer-from-
facebook/

PART 5:
ASIA
operators are working smarter to stay ahead
of the changing market. For the Asia-Pacific
countries, changes are happening faster
than elsewhere. The Asian market has
traditionally led in technology adoption:
consumers and companies are known for
their acceptance and appreciation of new
technology, the benefits of which they
quickly adapt to their everyday lives,
whether at home or in the workplace.
According to GSMA Intelligence, Asia
makes up two-thirds of mobile revenue
growth globally and is expected to exceed
$500 billion in 2013.1
This is equivalent to
North America and Europe combined (fig. 1).
But even within the Asia-Pacific region,
there is a wide disparity as you go from
country to country. For example, Japan,
South Korea, Southeast Asia (the ASEAN
nations), Australia, and New Zealand
tend to be the earliest adopters of new
technology. And while smartphone adopt-
ion may be high in Japan, Korea, China,
Ever since Japan’s NTT DoCoMo launched
its i-mode mobile internet service in 1999,
the Asia-Pacific region has been, for the
most part, ahead of the curve on mobile
communications. Mobile operators in the
region have historically been willing to take
risks and roll out new devices and services,
and customers in the region have been
quick to adopt them.
But now, operators in this part of the world
are facing the same challenges as every-
where else: voice and SMS revenues are
declining, causing them to rethink business
models. As traditional services wane, data
usage is on the upswing, driven by faster
networks such as LTE, smarter phones, and
over-the-top (OTT) apps.
Getting ahead of the curve
These trends have been plaguing the
industry for several years, and unfortun-
ately things aren’t getting any better. So
Asia-Pacific Stays in Front
of the Telecoms Race
Operators respond to declining revenues and increasing competition
from OTT providers with LTE roaming, RCS, and monetization of mobile
consumer data to stay ahead of the game.
PaRT 5: ASIA
FOOTNOTES
1. Mark Giles, "Global mobile revenue growth shifts to Asia," Mobile World Live (1 July 2013):
http://www.mobileworldlive.com/global-mobile-revenue-growth-shifts-to-asia

by outsourcing the management of these
traditional services and reallocating their
resources to future growth areas, such
as data. This juggling act, of maintaining
traditional revenues and accelerating new
business lines, will be a critical strategy
for operators to manage, as the industry
accelerates through this technology change.
Getting past the early
adoption phase
NTT DoCoMo proposed the LTE standard
in 2007, and it and other Asian operators
in South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, and the
Philippines have been at the forefront of
LTE development and deployment. Asia was
among the first regions to see a rapid rollout
of LTE, and in the past 12 to 18 months we’ve
seen many countries extend their LTE
networks with the launch of LTE roaming.
When you have widespread LTE networks
with their faster speeds, the next step is
to launch Rich Communications Services
(RCS) to leverage the network and gain new
revenue streams. South Korea is a shining
example of RCS adoption, and we’re also
seeing Southeast Asian countries going
ahead with deploying RCS. It’s too early
to say if RCS will erode OTT business,
but it will certainly shake things up.
Operators are also focusing intently on
OTT players to determine whether to
compete or co-operate. This is evidenced
by the many operator announcements
confirming partnerships with the OTT
players in their local markets. At this
stage of market maturity, operators are
not wrong to pursue both models.
China is the largest mobile-app market in
the world, with other Asian countries also
experiencing heavy growth in this area. But
so far, as in other regions, app monetization
has been elusive, with Asian consumers far
more likely to download free apps rather
than paid ones.
Creating new revenue streams
Besides LTE roaming and RCS, operators
in Asia are looking for other ways to bolster
their revenues. One is the monetization of
mobile consumer data. The mass rollout of
smart devices and LTE is changing the way
people communicate and engage with each
other, and this change in our interactions is
creating a massive amount of data for
and Singapore, feature phones are still the
dominant type of handset in India, Indone-
sia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines.
Regardless of device or country, we’re
seeing that as traditional voice and SMS
experience a decline, operators are adapting
Total mobile revenue and growth by region, 2012
$500
$375
$250
$125
$0
Asia Americas Europe Africa Oceania
Total mobile revenues, 2012, in USD billion
Annual mobile revenue growth, 2012
10% 7%
-3%
8%
-1%
Figure 1. Asia ranked first in mobile revenue growth in 2012. The region consistently outpaces the rest of the world.
© GSMA Intelligence 2013.

mobile operators. The sheer volume
and scale of data has made its analysis
very difficult.
Operators realize that this data will enable
them to see consumer behavior and
patterns, which is incredibly valuable infor-
mation not only to them but also to other
enterprises. Operators would like to take
that anonymized data and sell it. The data
could show, for example, how many custom-
ers are between the ages of 18 and 35, how
many own smartphones, which websites
they frequent, and where they are likely to
hang out on a Friday night.
Operators across the globe want to provide
this type of service for new revenue, but
operators in Asia such as Axiata Group (a
contributor to this guide) will be the first to
actually do so.
Trailblazing the new
mobile world
Technology continues to change at an
increasing rate. These changes continue to
benefit us all, improving convenience in our
lifestyles and productivity in the workplace.
Asian consumers and companies are known
for their appreciation of technology, and to
quickly adapt the benefits to their everyday
lives, whether personal or in the workplace.
As these new technologies come to market,
we will continue to see Asia trailblazing and
staying in front of the telecom race.
Matthew Tonkin is Vice President for
Asia-Pacific, including Japan, and Global
Head of IPX Business for SAP Mobile
Services, a division of SAP. He oversees
the company’s global GRX/IPX/LTE
Roaming business and helps drive pipelines
and revenues with local teams in every
region. In addition to his global IPX role, in
Asia Matthew is responsible for managing
and driving the company’s growth, market
leadership, product definition and geograph-
ical expansion in both its Enterprise Services
and Mobile Operator Services businesses,
through a combination of direct sales and
a partner and alliances sales network.
community. http://bit.ly/1lHIABY
Since RCS services as defined by the GSMA
are fairly new, it is possible to implement
them relatively easily. But when it comes to
VoLTE, challenges abound. Voice services
are still the main revenue-generating com-
ponent for most operators globally, so it is
important to ensure not only that the transi-
tion to VoLTE offers full service parity and
consistent experience, but also that the
transition is seamless and transparent to the
end user. There is no doubt that subscribers
will notice the improved experience, whether
in the HD quality of voice or the lightning-
fast call setup times. Rapid rollout is only
going to help maximize the network effects.
In terms of navigating the path to VoLTE,
investment is significant. It’s about re-
implementing the voice network, only this
time in the all-IP domain. It’s about transfor-
mation of a legacy circuit-switched (CS)
network that was steadily built and matured
Multiple tier-1 operators have committed
to launch Voice over LTE (VoLTE) in 2014.
Last year VoLTE adoption was considered a
matter of when, not if; now the transforma-
tion has begun, and the VoLTE movement is
building steam.
Over the last few years operators have
heavily invested in 4G technologies, many
of which are now live. Now they are looking
at means to move their core applications, of
which VoLTE is going to be the most import-
ant, and services to these new 4G LTE, all-IP
networks. The obvious benefit is that this will
help operators to both reduce cost and offer
new communications services.
The foundation that will be laid in deploying
VoLTE could pave the way for video and Rich
Communications Services (RCS), although
few operators have chosen RCS as a way
toward the goal of fully implementing VoLTE.
VoLTE and RCS: Network Evolution
and Services Revolution
Elements and roadmap for successful implementation of VoLTE and RCS.
By Sachin Bagul, Senior Manager, Product Strategy and Marketing, Mavenir Systems
PaRT 5: ASIA
Whether it's new voice services or new roaming
arrangements, the new technology and new
networks offer tremendous potential to redefine
business models with new creative solutions.

ongoing legacy upgrades compete for this
investment capital. A good solution, then,
will be the one that not only focuses on deliv-
ering these new services, but also provides
support for existing legacy networks. For
example, the IMS Centralized Services
framework provides an option to serve
legacy subscribers from the new VoLTE
solution via a gateway.
So the story of VoLTE will be a story of evo-
lution. The first VoLTE movers applied the
Circuit-Switched Fallback (CSFB) solution,
which is more like Voice and LTE rather than
Voice over LTE. As 4G coverage expands and
the network becomes more resilient, we will
see Single Radio and Dual Radio Voice Call
Continuity (SRVCC and DRVCC) solutions
taking off. The migration toward a single
all-IP network for all services will be aided
by the IMS Centralized Services framework.
There are also a few greenfield VoLTE deploy-
ments planned in various parts of the world;
these networks, not restricted by legacy
requirements, could provide early models
for a pure, all-IP-based wireless network.
As operators ready the VoLTE networks for
launch, the need for service ubiquity and
consistency while roaming is not lost on
any of us. Roaming issues are an important
factor in the proliferation and rapid adoption
over the years. In this transformation
process, it is imperative that operators
shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel where
they don’t have to. The perfect VoLTE
solution, then, would guarantee service
parity and offer options for synchronization
with the existing CS network, all with mini-
mal changes or disruption to it. For example,
during the initial phase of VoLTE it is quite
possible to reuse the existing prepaid
systems that operators already have in
place and have deeply integrated into their
OSS/BSS systems. Whether it's new voice
services or new roaming arrangements, the
new technology and new net-works offer
tremendous potential to redefine business
models with new creative solutions. But the
first step for operators is to start with what
they have in place; this will guarantee easy
transition and help expedite adoption.
Legacy networks will be with us for at least a
few more years. Operators need to continue
supporting these networks, because it’s
going to take a while for their entire sub-
scriber bases to migrate and adopt VoLTE
as the operators themselves go through that
network transformation. Thus, the big chal-
lenge operators now face is how to continue
supporting legacy networks without much
capital expenditure. Market forces demand
investment in new rich services while
complexities and cost and pave the way
for even richer services and innovative
business models for operators, thereby
reaffirming their role as leaders of the
communications industry.
Sachin Bagul is Senior Manager for Product
Strategy and Marketing at Mavenir Systems,
responsible for driving product strategy and
growth for the company’s RCS and VoLTE
portfolio. At Mavenir Systems he has also
worked as a systems architect, helping to
design core network products. Earlier, he
was a senior network architect at Cypress
Communications and a systems engineer
at Nortel and Ericsson. He holds a master’s
in Electrical Engineering from Southern
Methodist University, Dallas, and an MBA
from Georgia Tech, Atlanta.
community here: http://bit.ly/1d6h2qi
of VoLTE, and so they must be solved from
day one. LTE roaming, VoLTE roaming,
and interconnect solutions are essential
elements that need to be thought through
and implemented in a timely fashion. An IPX
that supports the IP-Multimedia Subsystem
(IMS) and acts as a hub for RCS is crucial
for interconnecting various VoLTE and RCS
networks. Using an evolutionary approach,
the GSMA has already put forward speci-
fications that should help operators reuse
their existing roaming agreements. Also, the
GSMA’s Roaming Architecture for VoLTE
with Local Breakout (RAVEL) specification
aims to resolve the issue of calls trombon-
ing all the way to the home network. With
VoLTE architecture, it becomes possible
to let the home network decide the path
the media should take with local breakout
as a preferred way. IPX providers like SAP
are actively engaged in finalizing roaming
specifications and leading the market,
with IMS and RCS hubs ready for service.
In the not very distant future, this evolution
should lead to a single all-IP access network
that will allow operators to deliver a suite of
rich communications services. Spectrum
refarming and the discontinuation of legacy
networks will be a reality. A spectrally
efficient network with all-IP technology
should ultimately reduce both operational
LTE roaming, VoLTE roaming, and interconnect solutions
are essential elements that need to be thought through
and implemented in a timely fashion.

been covered in this list, which allows for
early identification of likely issues as well
as an efficient means of sharing informa-
tion between roaming test parties. Efficiency
is further improved through end-to-end
management by an experienced technical
project manager who works with the oper-
ators on all aspects of the interconnection
and testing.
2. Progressive testing. There’s no point in
carrying out functional tests before basic
connectivity is established. With careful
troubleshooting and monitoring, transport
and then protocol connectivity between
operators (or between operator and hub)
should be done before interface testing
(for example, ensure that basic IP conn-
ectivity works before attempting to test
Diameter transactions or an actual roaming
use case). Many of the interconnect issues
are detected during this foundation testing,
which can then be followed by the subset
of the desired subset of the standard test
suites, such as the IR.35 test suite as
defined by the GSMA.1
As a network technology, LTE has been
adopted faster than any other in the wireless
industry. Since the first implementations in
2010, operators have now deployed multiple
commercial offerings and announced a
number of delivery plans. With subscribers
realizing the benefits of LTE in their home
networks, the demand for the same experi-
ence in roaming has required operators to
move quickly in building roaming agree-
ments and implementations.
During 2013 we have worked with many
operators around the world to enable
commercial LTE roaming through our IPX
365 service. This article gives an overview
of our experience and how to make operator
interconnections easier for LTE roaming.
1. Sound preparation and process
for LTE roaming. It seems an obvious step,
but the careful preparation and review of a
list of questions that determine the opera-
tor’s network LTE architecture and configu-
ration as it relates to roaming is essential.
Every problem that we’ve encountered has
standard realm to allow other operators
to understand it.
• Use of non-standard realms. Similarly,
some operators abbreviate or change
realm domain names; these too have
to be configurably translated to enable
interworking.
5. EPC design and implementation
differences. We’ve found that introducing
roaming helps operators review their imple-
mentation and in some cases design choices
underlying their LTE networks. Examples of
these include the following cases:
• LTE/3G coexistence configurations
with combined MME/SGSN, ensuring
that identified potential LTE roamers from
valid networks authenticate only against
LTE and don’t get unnecessarily roamed
onto the 3G network. This needs care
when used in conjunction with Circuit-
Switched Fallback (CSFB) to make sure
that intentional fallback to the 3G network
is done when required.
• Incorrect configuration of APNs
and associated DNS IP addresses
3. Essential troubleshooting support
for Diameter traffic. Good troubleshooting
probes and configurable reporting are
essential in finding out where, when, and
how things work differently from the way
that they should. Most of the issues outlined
in this article were identified through the
use of these sorts of tools.
4. Adhering to standards eases inter-
connection. By definition, interconnection
requires a common means of communica-
tion between roaming operators, and the
latest standards provide this mechanism.
Local implementations don’t always keep
to these standards for initial deployments,
as they aren’t all relevant for only-in-network
traffic. This divergence is exacerbated by the
rush to get implementations done as well
as early deployments of older specifications.
Examples of problems that we’ve solved in
this area include:
• Routing by IMSI rather than routing
by realm. Some operators locally route
by IMSI rather than the standards defined
3gppnetwork.org root-domain-based
realm. This has to be translated in the
Diameter interworking function to the
Best Practices for LTE Roaming
Six technology and operational considerations
for operators undertaking LTE roaming.
By Russell J. Green, CTO and Vice President Technology Group,
SAP Mobile Services
FOOTNOTEs
1. IR.35: End-to-End Functional Capability Test Specification for Inter-PMN GPRS Roaming (GSMA,
May 2011).
PaRT 5: ASIA

While there are many potential inter-
connection issues to manage, growing
operator experience with both LTE and
roaming interconnect partners means
that LTE roaming interconnections can
be established quickly. The ecosystem
of roaming partners is growing rapidly,
thereby enriching the connected lives of
mobile subscribers around the world.
Russell J. Green is responsible for product
and service strategy, development and
support as well as professional services,
operations, and customer support. Prior
to joining SAP, he held several senior
management positions at VPIsystems
Inc., 724 Solutions, Tandem Comput-
ers, and Digital Equipment Corporation.
community here: http://bit.ly/1nxcxcA
to conform to the known IP addresses that
are allowed to query the home DNS server.
• Modification of QoS and session
parameters to force correct handset
behavior in a visited network. Some
implementations transmit invalid
attribute-value pairs (AVPs) that don’t
matter in the home network but cause
issues in the visited network. Requested
bandwidth values, wild-carded APNs,
and PGW selections are examples of
erroneous values in roaming.
6. Prepare and dedicate resources to
get the job done quickly. As well as the
technology implementations, the efficiency
and progress of the interconnection work
depends on the skill and experience of
the operator staff working on the project.
Where staff have been allocated time to
prepare and gain the experience to carry
out interconnection work as part of a struc-
tured project, progress is made quickly.
Conversely, if an engineer is tasked with
making interconnection happen in addition
to his or her normal production duties,
the test and interconnection work won’t
get priority and proceed as required.
Signalling
Traffic
Key interfaces for LTE interconnect
S-GW P-GW
E-UTRAN
P-GW
SG
(Local Breakout)
SGi
Mobile Service Provider A
(Visited PLMN)
Mobile Service Provider B
(Home PLMN)
SAP IPX 365
S5
S11
S3
DEA DRA DEA
HSS
S8
V-PCRF
SGSN
H-PCRF
S6d
S9
S6aMME
SERVER PDN SERVER PDN
S1 MME
S1 u
Figure 1. LTE interconnect and roaming require these major interfaces. The S6a Diameter interface (and S6d for 3G
interoperability) and S8 are mandatory. The S9 Diameter interface provides additional QoS control and is expected to
become a more common interconnect interface over time.

The challenge for mobile operators is to
offer the right mix of services for a variety
of subscriber types, from budget-con-
scious consumers who have 2G phones and
purchase prepaid service to smartphone-
and tablet-savvy users who demand fast
mobile data, including high-definition voice
and mobile TV capabilities. In addition,
the Singaporean mobile market has a
penetration rate of over 150% (many
users have multiple devices and multiple
SIM cards), posing the challenge for oper-
ators of ensuring adequate network
coverage. Meeting these diverse needs
makes adoption of LTE a priority.
The makeup of the StarHub mobile user
base means that roaming by subscribers
is a significant but not substantial source
To mobile users, LTE represents a great
experience thanks to fast transmission
speeds. To mobile operators, LTE represents
operating efficiencies. Roaming on LTE
networks promises revenue growth for
operators as the market grows and
roaming agreements are worked out.
Reflecting the enthusiastic use of mobile
data throughout Asia, Singapore leads
the world in mobile broadband penetra-
tion1
and was the first country to roll out
LTE nationwide.2
StarHub completed its
nationwide LTE network rollout in October
2013, joining competitors M1 and SingTel.
LTE adoption globally is expected to
grow to 1.6 billion subscriptions by 2018,
and 4G connections (including LTE) are
driving explosive growth in data usage.3
Because unlimited data plans are popular
in Asia, LTE data usage will not garner sig-
nificant incremental revenue, making LTE
roaming a primary opportunity for revenue
growth. On the other hand, Singapore is
a major international business hub, with
millions of business travelers as well as
tourists visiting every year. These visitors
want to use mobile services seamlessly in
Singapore, so the demand for good quality,
efficient inbound roaming services is high.
As Singapore’s economy grows, Singapor-
eans are increasingly vacationing overseas.
To meet their needs, StarHub in 2013 began
offering RoamEasy, Singapore’s first true
single rate for data roaming. RoamEasy
of revenue, accounting for about 15% of
total mobile revenue. Social networking,
email and web browsing are among the
most popular data services accessed when
roaming. Traditional mobile services such
as voice and SMS, although not growing
rapidly, still form the bulk of StarHub’s
roaming traffic. StarHub subscribers tend
to use 50 MB or less of roaming data per
day, although the company expects to see
usage grow with the adoption of LTE. This
is consistent with a recent Informa study
which found that in comparison with 3G sub-
scribers, LTE subscribers tend to consume
more mobile data, buy larger data plans,
and use Wi-Fi less (although mobile use of
Wi-Fi on mobile devices is growing overall).4
LTE Roaming Grows in Singapore
Roaming represents a growth area for mobile operators,
who see LTE as a way to meet the diverse needs of a wide
variety of subscribers, including the budget-conscious as
well as the tech-savvy.
By William Ku, General Manager, International Business, StarHub Ltd
FOOTNOTES
1. Phillippa Biggs (ed.), The State of Broadband 2013: Universalizing Broadband (Broadband
Commission for Digital Development, September 2013), 95: http://www.broadbandcommission.
org/Documents/bb-annualreport2013.pdf
2. Saiyai Sakawee, "The state of 4G in Southeast Asia," Tech in Asia (25 December 2013):
http://www.techinasia.com/state-of-4g-southeast-asia-2013
3. William Dudley, "LTE Roaming: Making it Work, Making it Reality" (webinar on behalf of SAP
Mobile Services, 27 March 2013).
FOOTNOTEs
4. Understanding today’s smartphone user: An updated and expanded analysis of data-usage pat-
terns in six of the world’s most advanced 4G LTE markets (Informa Telecoms & Media, June 2013):
www.informatandm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Mobidia-ITM-June-2013
For mobile operators building out LTE networks,
the biggest challenge today is the lack of clear
direction for peering the IPX, which is mandatory
for LTE roaming.
PaRT 5: ASIA

IPX vendors are already beginning to peer
on a bilateral basis, which should begin to
allow operators to consolidate costs.
The current problem of spectrum fragmen-
tation, where travelers encounter incom-
patible service because LTE is deployed on
different frequencies in different regions, will
be only a short-term challenge. When LTE
becomes more widely deployed and mature,
handset manufacturers will roll out multi-
mode and multiband handsets that can be
used anywhere around the world, similar to
quad-band GSM handsets.
Coming next
Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service is on
the horizon, promising to let mobile
charges a single data roaming rate when
customers connect to any mobile network
in over 30 popular overseas destinations.
The service will be progressively extended
to the rest of the overseas destinations
in StarHub’s roaming footprint.
Challenges to expansion
For mobile operators building out LTE
networks, the biggest challenge today is
the lack of clear direction for peering the
IPX, which is mandatory for LTE roaming.
Unlike GPRS roaming, which the GSMA has
mandated that all GRX providers must peer
in Amsterdam, we cannot simply select one
or two GRX providers to serve our global
needs. This drives up the cost of providing
LTE roaming. The good news is that some
William Ku is General Manager, Interna-
tional Business, at StarHub. He heads the
Global Services team, which manages inter-
national alliances and the commercial and
operational aspects of international voice
and roaming. In addition, he is Chairman
of the International Roaming Workgroup
for Conexus Mobile Alliance, which has a
combined customer base of about 280
million subscribers.
community here: http://bit.ly/1eaQaU7
operators conserve spectrum and manage
fewer network technologies.5
In addition,
VoLTE’s voice, messaging, and video
features should prove superior to OTT apps,
thanks to LTE’s quality of service, interop-
erability, and roaming capabilities.6
StarHub
plans to offer VoLTE service later this year,
when a wide range of supported phones
becomes available to consumers.
In the next several years the LTE landscape
is going to be very different. All services will
be IP-based, and that means mobile oper-
ators only need to provide a “pipe” – the
business for a mobile operator could be
analogous to that of a mobile ISP. With the
superior performance of LTE, mobile oper-
ators will be able to deliver services much
more efficiently and effectively.
FOOTNOTEs
5. VoLTE: Why, When and How (Telecoms.com Intelligence, February 2013)
http://www.ibasis.com/downloads/pdfs/VoLTE_Whitepaper.pdf
6. "VoLTE or VoIP over LTE – Who is the ultimate winner?" With Imagination Blog (13 May 2013):
http://withimagination.imgtec.com/index.php/hellosoft/volte-or-voip-over-lte-who-is-the-
ultimate-winner
In the next several years the LTE landscape is
going to be very different. All services will be IP-
based, and that means mobile operators only need
to provide a ‘pipe’ – the business for a mobile
operator could be analogous to that of a mobile ISP.

networks of about 20 GRX carriers, intercon-
nected at three peering points.
The success of the GRX and the drive toward
an all-IP mobile world inspired the conception
of the IPX: an IP backbone built to exchange
IP traffic for all sorts of IP-based services.
Contrary to the public internet, the IPX is
service-aware, quality-of-service enabled,
and managed end-to-end. Connectivity to
the IPX is restricted, to ensure its security.
The IPX was initially perceived by the market
as a network built just for the exchange of
voice traffic. The industry has come to
embrace the single-access concept of the
IPX: a single physical connection that delivers
interconnection for all essential services.
The GRX is now generally viewed not as a
separate network but as a multilateral IPX
transport service.That this has happened
One of the biggest achievements in the
history of telecommunication is roaming:
wherever you go, whenever you switch on
your phone people can call you on your
personal number. Roaming extends the
relationship that mobile service providers
have with their subscribers well beyond the
reach of their physical networks. And here’s
the important piece: wherever they go,
these subscribers expect the same quality
of service that they are used to in their
home network.
When mobile service providers first
launched IP-based data services (GPRS),
the need to enable these services in roaming
triggered the definition and deployment of
the GRX: an IP backbone exclusively used
by mobile service providers to exchange
the data traffic generated by roamers. The
GRX has grown steadily since it was first
launched, and it currently comprises the
is hardly a surprise. In the established roam-
ing architecture of 2G and 3G networks,
data-roaming traffic is typically generated by
traditional data applications like web browsing
and emailing. The purpose of the GRX, then,
is to route this traffic back to the home
network so that the mobile service provider
can count the bytes and print the invoice.
But the roll-out of LTE is making this, the
traditional GRX model, obsolete.Why is that?
A recent SAP-sponsored IPX survey of
carriers, held in the summer of 2013, showed
that 65% view LTE primarily as a way to
deliver higher data speeds. The availability
of high-speed data connectivity in combina-
tion with the increasing capability of smart
mobile devices is changing consumer
behavior. More and more people use their
smart mobile devices not only to enjoy HD
video streaming services but also to create
personal content – high-definition photos
and videos – and to share this content on
social media like Facebook.
Subscribers used to fantastic network per-
formance in their home network will expect
that same level of service performance when
The Wide, Wide World of the IPX
The IPX delivers end-to-end management and quality
of service for voice and other essential IP services
such as roaming for high-speed mobile data.
The industry has come to embrace the
single-access concept of the IPX: a single
physical connection that delivers
interconnection for all essential services.
PaRT 5: ASIA

price.This level of trust doesn’t necessarily
exist between all roaming partners.We would
therefore expect local breakout to be enabled
just between trusted roaming partners.
Unfortunately the devil is in the details. Even
though local breakout is quite obviously a
very efficient routing solution for mainstream
internet services like the ones mentioned
earlier, other services and applications
greatly benefit from home routing via the
IPX. Services like Voice and Video over LTE
would always be routed via the IPX, but even
for applications like BlackBerry where the
mobile service providers and their enterprise
customers make sure that email traffic is
kept away from the internet, local breakout
in roaming scenarios would simply not be
appropriate. Service providers would there-
fore need to agree for which applications
local breakout would be allowed.
All of this highlights additional challenges:
if all these services and applications are
treated differently, how will accounting and
settlement work between the service provid-
ers, and how will they be able to present
their subscribers with a transparent invoice
at the end of the month?
roaming. Mobile service providers that stick
to the traditional GRX business model of
home-routing all this upstream and down-
stream traffic will therefore need to make
sure that they are connected to a high
capacity backbone with excellent perfor-
mance characteristics – that is, the IPX.
But here’s the thing: home-routing of all
of this traffic is not particularly efficient;
it would be much more efficient to allow
roamers local access to the internet by
offering local breakout. Local breakout is
not available in the market just yet, and
there are two very good reasons for why
that is. First of all, local breakout requires
the use of more new technology. Service
providers need to be able to exchange
policy information about the users on their
networks, and enforce these policies on
their gateways. In a time when service pro-
viders are still in the middle of building out
and tuning their LTE networks, this is a
level of complexity they can do without.
The other good reason is that by allowing
local breakout, service providers must trust
their roaming partners to provide an excellent
service to their customers – and at the right
for mobile service providers to roll out local
breakout, with the right price packages.
Michael Van Veen is responsible for
managing and driving the GPRS Roaming
Exchange (GRX) / IP eXchange (IPX)
product line for SAP Mobile Services. He
began his career at KPN Telecom, where
he worked on major projects including
the international standardization of ISDN
and Fiber-to-the-Home systems, and the
establishment of an operational manage-
ment center for the first GSM network
in the Netherlands. He is also the current
Deputy Chairman of the GRXIPX Working
Group, which is a sub-working group under
the GSMA’s IREG (Inter-Working Roaming,
Expert Group).
community here: http://bit.ly/1kBhNam
In the meantime, many subscribers have an
entirely different objective: they simply like
to see a lower bill. Their obvious way of
achieving this is by avoiding mobile service
provider networks and using Wi-Fi. In many
places in the world, Wi-Fi internet access is
available at little or no cost. And even though
the speed (and security!) leave a lot to be
desired, many subscribers happily settle for
lower quality in exchange for a substantial
cost saving.
But it is also true that Wi-Fi is not as widely
available as mobile service provider
networks, and roamers will often find them-
selves using the data connectivity offered by
these local mobile networks. In an attempt
to further increase competition between
mobile service providers, with the aim of
driving down the cost of data roaming, the
EU is enforcing local breakout from a differ-
ent angle. By July 2014, subscribers should
have the option of buying internet access
directly from the visited network. Thus for
the duration of subscribers’ contracts with
visited networks, home network providers
will not get their subscribers’ roaming
business, aside from voice calling. This
may well be the best thinkable incentive
Even though local breakout is quite obviously a very
efficient routing solution for mainstream internet services,
other services and applications greatly benefit from
home routing via the IPX.

The popularity of mobile services across
telecom markets has grown by leaps and
bounds. This success may be attributed
to the continuous evolution of technology.
Mobile technology has been evolving
decade over decade since the 1980s: in the
1980s we witnessed the emergence of the
first generation (1G) of mobile communica-
tion, while the present decade marks the
emergence of advanced fourth-generation
(4G) mobile technology (fig. 1).
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are
therefore participating in the auction and
deployment of advanced technologies like
3G and pre-4G (or 3.9G) to increase the
contribution of their non-voice revenue.
LTE, including Worldwide Interoperability
for Microwave Access (WiMAX), is being
marketed by the global telcos as a 4G tech-
nology. Nevertheless, it would be worth-
while to consider that these MNOs may
look forward to the deployment of “true”
4G networks in the future.
The most popular pre-4G LTE technology
is frequency-division duplexing (FDD-LTE).
FDD-LTE uses two distinct carriers for uplink
and downlink, running on different frequen-
cies separated by a guard band. On the
other hand, time-division duplexing (TDD-
LTE), a newer technology, uses a single
frequency carrier, but allocates distinct
time periods for the uplink and downlink.
While the LTE standard continues to mature
and evolve, international differences in fre-
quency planning and allocation have resulted
in different frequency bands being used in dif-
ferent countries. TDD-LTE promises greater
efficiency in terms of frequency spectrum
usage and has attracted the attention of
operators in a number of other countries.
Thus far globally, there have been 244 com-
mercial deployments of LTE across 92
countries.1
The majority of these deploy-
ments have been using FDD-LTE technology,
Asian Giants Catching Up
with the Global LTE Leaders
LTE continues to gain converts as it moves across
continents picking up subscribers. One-third of the
subscribers are in China and India.
By Sohag Sarkar, Manager, Strategy and Operation – Technology,
Media and Telecom, KPMG Advisory Services
Mobile
Generation
Initiation
Period
Key Description
1G 1980s The first analog cellular systems conceived and designed
purely for voice calls. The first commercial deployment was in
North America as Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS).
2G 1990s The first digital cellular systems, offering improved sound
quality, better security, and higher capacity. These support
circuit-switched data and allow users to place dial-up data
calls digitally. The first 2G (GSM) network, Radiolinja, was
launched in Finland.
3G 2000s Newer cellular networks with data rates of 384 Kbps and
more. International Telecommunications Union (ITU) IMT-
2000 standard defines “true” 3G with stationary speeds
of 2 Mbps and mobile speeds of 384 Kbps. 3G technologies
provide faster data transmission speeds, greater network
capacity, and more advanced network services. In May 2001,
NTT DoCoMo (Japan) launched the first pre-commercial 3G
network, branded as FOMA. Following the first pre-commer-
cial launch, NTT DoCoMo again made history on 1 October
2001, with the first 3G commercial launch.
4G 2010s The ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) has specified
the set of requirements for 4G standards and named it the
IMT-Advanced, setting peak mobile speed at 100 Mbps and
1 Gbps for low-mobility communication. ITU has qualified
“LTE-Advanced” and “WirelessMAN-Advanced” as the official
IMT-Advanced technologies.
FOOTNOTEs
1. Status of the Global LTE TDD Market (GSA, 9 December 2013):
www.gsacom.com/gsm_3g/info_papers
From 1G to 4G Mobile Technology
PaRT 5: ASIA
Figure 1

143142
while 25 operators have chosen TDD-LTE,
12 of them in addition to FDD-LTE (fig. 3).
LTE: Paradigm shift, or competitive
business strategy?
Until recently, most of the disruptions or
innovations have been with voice services,
and even in the present day voice revenue
contributes the most when compared to the
overall top line of an operator. Equally true,
however, is the fact that declining mobile
tariffs have resulted in a stagnation of voice
revenue. Plus, further discounting of the
voice tariff has been counter-productive
when it comes to increasing overall voice
usage (or minutes of usage).
Therefore, the key question that the industry
should ask itself is: Are operators betting on
the next generation of mobile ultra-broad-
band technologies to alleviate their revenue
trajectories, or is this a marketing gimmick
The proponents are optimistic that LTE
would allow them to introduce a wide
spectrum of application and data services.
This strategic move would help them
increase their non-voice revenue contribu-
tion, which is currently hovering anywhere
between 10-30% globally.2
It is there-
fore wise to acknowledge that the mobile
services industry is witnessing a paradigm
shift from a hitherto voice-centric business
model to a data-centric one. The next gen-
eration of product or service disruption and
innovation will be on the data front.
to increase brand perception and value, so
as to stay ahead of the competition? And
if the latter is true, then what should be the
price that operators are willing to pay to
achieve this market differentiation? Actions
speak louder than words: many operators
are deploying LTE primarily to augment their
network capacity, while others are looking
at LTE to generate additional revenues; the
resthavealreadycalleditquitsgiventhequan-
tum of investment or internal challenges,
or given their skeptical view on the proposed
return on investments.
244 Global LTE Deployments
231 FDD-LTE Deployments
13 TDD-LTE Deployments
12 FDD+TDD-LTE Deployments
FDD-LTE
95%
TDD-LTE
5%
Global LTE deployments by technology
Figure 3. Based on data from GSA's Status of the Global LTE TDD Market report (9 December 2013).
Global TDD-LTE deployments
Figure 2. Based on data from GSA's Evolution to LTE report (December 5, 2013). © Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA).
Countries with commerically launched LTE-TDD networks
Countries with LTE-TDD studies, trials, deployments
FOOTNOTEs
2. Recommendations on Application Services (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, 14 May
2012): http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/Recommendation/Documents/AS140512.pdf

economies of scale and necessary research
and development on the supplier side. On
the other hand, partnerships – with content
players, value-added service providers,
or even over-the-top (OTT) players – could
be critical when launching a bouquet of
services alongside enhanced data services.
Asian giants betting on TDD-LTE
More than 90% of LTE deployments so
far have used FDD-LTE, and the ecosystem
around this technology has also matured
globally. Close to 1,240 LTE user devices
(tablets, smartphones, dongles, small cell,
and others) are available, of which only 274
4G deployment strategy:
Getting it first-time right
The launch of 4G services could prove to
be a make-or-break situation for MNOs. A
holistic and well-planned strategy would be
required on the part of the operator to get
this process “first-time right” (fig. 5).
Critical to their success is the chosen
technology and the ecosystem around it.
A robust 4G ecosystem is essential for
MNOs to be successful in the market. MNOs
cannot ignore the device strategy, other-
wise the adoption will be limited to pure-play
data users only. Adequate demand of user
devices and network equipment will ensure
RITES model for LTE depolyment
0%
USA
Non-VoiceRevenueContribution(%age)
China Japan Korea UK Germany Italy Brazil India
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Non-voice revenue as a percentage of overall revenue
Figure 4. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI),
Source: Recommendations on Application Services (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, 14 May 2012):
http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/Recommendation/Documents/AS140512.pdf.
30%
27% 27%
26%
21% 21%
17%
14%
11%
Regulation
Spectrum
frequency,
block, reserve
price, and other
regulations
Capex and
opex including
network and
system upgrade
or enhancement
Deployment
strategy for
data and/or
voice sevices
User devices,
equipments,
VAS, and content
services
Go-to-market
considerations
for consumer
and enterprise
segment
Investment Technology Ecosystem Subscribers
Figure 5

“game-changing” prowess. Both India and
China are betting on TDD-LTE, thereby pro-
viding a greater boost to global operators
who have found merit in this technology.
Globally, 46 new TDD-LTE deployments
are in progress or in the planning phase,
beyond the present 25 deployments across
20 countries (fig. 6).4
India has already witnessed the commercial
deployments starting in 2012, and Chinese
telcos are about to follow suit following the
are TDD-LTE compatible.3
Would it be
astute to assume that investing in TDD-LTE
might be a risky proposition, considering
current ecosystem maturity and interoper-
ability challenges?
The answer may be derived by analyzing
the events that are taking place on the Asian
continent. One-third of global telecom sub-
scribers are contributed by two Asian giants,
China and India. It is a given that whosoever
is on top of the pyramid also holds the
Country Operator TDD
frequency
TDD
Band
LTE mode
Australia NBN Co. 2.3 GHz 40 TDD
Australia Optus 2.3 GHz 40 TDD + FDD
Bahrain Menatelecom 3.5 GHz 42 TDD
Brazil On Telecomunicacoes 2.6 GHz 38 TDD
Brazil Sky Brasil Services 2.6 GHz 38 TDD
Canada Sasktel 2.6 GHz 41 TDD + FDD
Hong Kong China Mobile Hong Kong 2.3 GHz 40 TDD + FDD
India Bharti Airtel 2.3 GHz 40 TDD
Indonesia PT Internux 2.3 GHz 40 TDD
Japan Softbank XGP/LTE TDD 2.6 GHz 41 TDD + FDD
Nigeria Spectranet 2.3 GHz 40 TDD
Oman Omantel 2.3 GHz 40 TDD + FDD
Poland Aero2 2.6 GHz 38 TDD + FDD
Russia Megafon/Moscow 2.6 GHz 38 TDD + FDD
Russia MTS/Moscow 2.6 GHz 38 TDD + FDD
Russia Vainakh Telecom 2.3 GHz 40 TDD
Saudi Arabia Mobily 2.6 GHz 38 TDD
Country Operator TDD
frequency
TDD
Band
LTE mode
Saudi Arabia STC 2.3 GHz 40 TDD + FDD
South Africa Telkom Mobile (8ta) 2.3 GHz 40 TDD
Spain COTA/Murcia4G 2.6 GHz 38 TDD
Sri Lanka Dialog Axiata 2.3 GHz 40 TDD + FDD
Sweden 3 Sweden 2.6 GHz 38 TDD + FDD
Uganda MTN 2.6 GHz 41 TDD
UK UK Broadband 3.5 GHz 42, 43 TDD
USA Sprint (est. Clearwire) 2.6 GHz 41 TDD + FDD
Figure 6. Based on data from GSA's Status of the Global LTE TDD Market report (9 December 2013).
Global TDD-LTE deployments
FOOTNOTES
3. Status of the Global LTE TDD Market (GSA, 9 December 2013): http://www.gsacom.com/
gsm_3g/info_papers
4. Ibid.

supply-side dynamic to provide LTE-based
data services. Both China and India have
to leverage their existing infrastructure and
partnerships to optimize deployment
costs, as a greenfield LTE deployment
would be practically infeasible. Operators
across these Asian giants have expressed
their desire and commitment to collaborate
and reuse the existing infrastructure,
both active and passive. Therefore, only a
synergistic collaboration and co-operation
will encourage a faster and profitable LTE
deployment across the region.
award of TDD-LTE spectrum in December
2013.The key drivers instrumental in defining
the extent of data growth in these countries
are the availability, affordability, and applica-
bility of mobile data services (fig. 7).
When compared to other advanced telecom
geographies, India and China are lacking
in average internet speed, which is below 2
Mbps. Mobile broadband-based services
can, therefore, emerge as a lifeline for
economic growth in these countries. While
the demand-side drivers already exist, it
would be interesting to understand the
Sohag Sarkar is a management consultant
in strategy and operations with key exper-
tise in business transformation and large-
scale program management. His area of
specialization is in the telecommunications
industry. He has worked with international
as well as Indian telecom players. He is
currently undertaking research in manage-
ment studies at Pacific University, Udaipur,
and also serves as a visiting faculty to one
of the leading telecom management insti-
tutes in India. Several of his white papers
and thought leaderships have been pub-
lished in leading journals.
community here: http://bit.ly/1gEDPV8
References
http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_
releases/2012/02.aspx#.UYvxXUqPeM0
http://www.globaltelecomsbusiness.com/
article/3108725/Yota-claims-first-
commercial-LTE-Advanced-net.html?
ArticleID=3108725
http://lteworld.org/blog/latest-status-
update-lte-advanced
http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/
Recommendation/Documents/AS140512.
pdf
http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/
bIa6p5ChYVFValPTs90MLJ/India-trails-at-
No-20-in-mobile-data-speeds-ranking.html
http://www.telecomasia.net/content/
average-internet-speed-grew-5-q4?
section=TOP+STORIES&utm_source=
silverpop&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_
content&utm_campaign=telecomasia
http://www3.alcatel-lucent.com/belllabs/
advisory-services/documents/Declining_
Profitability_Trend_of_Mobile_Data_EN_
Market_Analysis.pdf
http://www.telecomasia.net/content/
china-finally-issues-4g-licenses
http://www.gsacom.com/gsm_3g/info_
papers
Availability
AffordabilityApplicability
Drivers for data growth
Figure 7. Availability, affordability, and applicability are the "three A's" and key drivers of data growth.

151150
Indonesia
India
Sri Lanka
Cambodia
Bangladesh
Malaysia
Singapore
Tapping Into the Data
Axiata is embarking on a project to put
its wealth of customer data to work.
By Karan Henrik Ponnudurai, Chief Innovation Officer, Axiata Digital
Mobile telecommunications companies are
like Saudi Arabia in the 1930s: we’re sitting
on top of a resource that’s about to become
incredibly valuable.
The resource is customer data. We’ve been
collecting it for close to 30 years. So far,
we’ve only been using it to maintain and
manage our networks. But now, this “big
data” has new meanings, new contexts.
Mobile operators are discovering there’s
tremendous value in it, and many potential
ways to use it.
And not only that, we’re also about to have
even more data. Mobile operators are diver-
sifying. We’re branching into mobile finance,
banking, broadband, and other services that
are both generating new data and sparking
new demand for it.
Southeast Asia is coming online
Axiata serves Malaysia, Indonesia,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Cambodia,
with significant strategic stakes in
India and Singapore. (fig. 1). Our market
is large geographically, and includes a
wide socio-economic scope as well–
from developing to highly developed
economies. While we serve a range of
customers, there are also two important
trends impacting the whole region.
First, the Internet has really taken off
here. Southeast Asia has some of the
highest per-capita Facebook usage rates
in the world, and three of Facebook’s top
15 markets (Philippines, Thailand and
Malaysia) as ranked by visitor penetration.1
In the region, many people’s first experience of the internet is via mobile. For Axiata,
this represents a way to take advantage
of the internet era.
Second, smartphones are becoming more
affordable. The average farmer in India, for
example, will have a smartphone in just a
few years. That’s a portent of the fundamen-
tal shift we’re about to see in internet audi-
ences. We’re talking about hundreds of
millions of people coming online from South
and Southeast Asia over the next few years.
From a consumer data perspective, we’re
expecting a tsunami of data.
Putting data to work
We’ve historically used data to get to know
our customers better, so that’s how we plan
to use it initially. Today, we use all the stand-
ard methods to collect customer insight:
FOOTNOTEs
1. 2013 Southeast Asia Digital Future in Focus (comScore, July 2013): http://www.comscore.com/
Insights/Presentations_and_Whitepapers/2013/2013_Southeast_Asia_Digital_Future_in_Focus
Mobile telecommunications companies are
like Saudi Arabia in the 1930s: we’re sitting
on top of a resource that’s about to become
incredibly valuable.
Axiata in Asia
Figure 1. Axiata serves a large portion of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and
Cambodia, with significant strategic stakes in India and Singapore.
PaRT 5: ASIA

153152
surveys, customer service, and increas-
ingly, feedback on social media sites. In
this era of “activist consumers” who tell
the whole world when they’re unhappy,
we’re discovering that we have to become
proactive, gauging whether there’s going
to be a problem or not instead of waiting
for customers to tell us there is. That’s a
huge change for us, and one that we know
data can inform.
We’ve known for years that data and
analytics can bring us to a much deeper
and sophisticated understanding of
customer behavior. The difference is that
now technology has caught up with that
reality. The tools and analysis methods
are finally available at a cost-effective
price point.
Beyond that, we’re also looking at ways to
use data as a product in and of itself. In that
arena, we have competitors – including
Facebook and Google – that are already
using data as a competitive tool. Our first
challenge is that we’ve never done this
before, and as a company we don’t yet have
the sales, technical, or process expertise to
do it. Second, we come from a heavily regu-
lated industry. From our perspective, our
competitors are using data in ways that
are fairly cavalier. Getting into the world of
data mining and monetization means that
we need to learn how to do it in a way that
protects consumers and still allows us to
compete with others in the internet world.
Taking a conservative approach
When it comes to maintaining customer
privacy, we’ll err on the side of caution.
That’s who we are as a company. Also,
Axiata is a very large customer brand.
We have 215 million subscribers, so there’s
significant risk in not being careful.
At the same time, the regulatory construct
is very amorphous right now. Telco regula-
tors haven’t caught up with this new data
opportunity at all, so there’s little definition
in the industry of what a conservative
approach actually looks like. For example,
in Malaysia we have 12 million customers.
Every single transaction generates
enormous amounts of data. What parts
of data do you leave out, and what parts
do you analyze? There is so much. Every-
one’s playing around with this same idea.
It will likely be some years before we have
a good sense of exactly what we’re looking
for. There are so many possibilities.
Karan Henrik Ponnudurai is the chief innova-
tion officer at Axiata Digital, responsible for
digital businesses across Southeast Asia. Pre-
viously, he was the chief innovation officer of
online and digital services at Celcom Axiata,
the leading Malaysian cellular operator.
Prior, he was the vice president of business
development and technology for Softbank
Emerging Markets, a venture capital initiative.
He was also a founding director of worldwide
engineering for a wireless broadband equip-
ment company, and a pioneer staff member
at Maxis, serving in multiple roles. He started
his career as an R&D engineer and product
manager at Hewlett-Packard. He holds
degrees in electrical engineering from the
University of Malaya and Stanford University.
community here: http://bit.ly/1m7mNab
Smartphones are
becoming more affordable.
The average farmer in
India, for example, will
have a smartphone in
just a few years.

Axiata
Axiata Group Berhad (formerly TM Inter-
national) is one of the largest Asian tele-
communications companies focused on
high-growth, low-penetration emerging
markets. Home to 215 million subscribers,
Axiata has controlling interests in mobile
operators in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, and Cambodia, with significant
strategic stakes in India and Singapore.
The Group’s mobile subsidiaries and asso-
ciates operate under the following brands:
Celcom in Malaysia,XL in Indonesia,
Dialog in Sri Lanka, Robi in Bangladesh,
Smart in Cambodia, Idea in India, and M1
in Singapore. Visit www.axiata.com
Cloudmark
Cloudmark builds messaging security
software that protects communications
service provider networks and their sub-
scribers against the widest range of mes-
saging threats. Only Cloudmark Security
Platform™ delivers instant security and
control across diverse messaging environ-
ments, enabling communications service
providers to create a safe user exper-
ience, protect revenue, and safeguard
their brand, while streamlining infrastruc-
ture and reducing operational costs. Cloud-
mark’s patented solutions protect more
than 120 tier-1 customers worldwide, includ-
ing AT&T, Verizon, Swisscom, Comcast,
Cox, and NTT. Visit www.cloudmark.com
GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of
mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more
than 220 countries, the association unites
nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators
with 250 companies in the broader mobile
ecosystem, including handset and device
makers, software companies, equipment
providers, and internet companies, as well as
organizations in industry sectors such as
financial services, healthcare, media, trans-
port, and utilities. The GSMA also produces
industry-leading events such as Mobile
World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo.
Visit www.gsma.com
Informa
Businesses, professionals, and academics
worldwide turn to Informa for unparalleled
knowledge, up-to-the-minute information,
and highly specialized skills and services.
The company’s ability to deliver high-quality
knowledge and services through multiple
media channels, in dynamic and rapidly
changing environments, makes its offerings
unique and extremely valuable to individuals
and organizations. Visit www.informa.com
International Data Corporation (IDC)
IDC is the premier global provider of market
intelligence, advisory services, and events
for the information technology, telecom-
munications, and consumer technology
markets. IDC helps IT professionals,
business executives, and the investment
community make fact-based decisions
on technology purchases and business
strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts
provide global, regional, and local expertise
on technology and industry opportunities
and trends in over 110 countries worldwide.
For 50 years, IDC has provided strategic
insights to help our clients achieve their
key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary
of IDG, the world’s leading technology,
media, research, and events company.
Visit www.idc.com
Kantar
Kantar is the data investment management
division of WPP and one of the world's
largest insight, information, and consultancy
networks. By connecting the diverse talents
of its 13 specialist companies, the group
aims to become the pre-eminent provider
of compelling and inspirational insights for
the global business community. Its 28,500
employees work across 100 countries and
across the spectrum of research and con-
sultancy disciplines, enabling the group to
offer clients business insights at each and
every point of the consumer cycle. Visit
www.kantar.com
KPMG
KPMG LLP, the audit, tax, and advisory firm,
is the US member firm of KPMG Intern-
ational Cooperative (“KPMG International”).
KPMG International’s member firms have
145,000 professionals, including more than
8,000 partners, in 152 countries. KPMG
delivers a globally consistent set of multi-
disciplinary services based on deep industry
knowledge. Our industry focus helps KPMG
professionals develop a rich understanding
of clients’ businesses and the insight, skills,
and resources required to address industry-
specific issues and opportunities. Visit
www.kpmg.com
APPENDIX
Contributor Companies

Mavenir Systems
Mavenir Systems is a leading provider of
software-based networking solutions that
enable mobile service providers to deliver
high-quality IP-based voice, video, rich
communications, and enhanced messaging
services to their subscribers globally. Visit
www.mavenir.com
mCordis
mCordis provides independent, international
expertise to help companies increase their
knowledge and understanding of mobile
marketing, create and develop mobile mar-
keting strategies and propositions, and
expand their business into new countries
and markets. Visit www.mcordis.com
Mobile Europe
Mobile Europe analyzes the major devel-
opments in wireless technologies and
markets. It reaches top decision makers
within operators, service providers, OEMs,
and the large user corporations that have
driven demand in the world's leading
mobile market. Offering news, analysis, and
strong opinion, combined with in-depth
articles, Mobile Europe covers the issues
that matter. Visit www.mobileeurope.co.uk
MTN
MTN is a global communications partner
and world-class cellular network. As a major
communications company, MTN is focused
on the African continent. The MTN Group
operates three business divisions: MTN-SA
(South Africa), MTN International, and
Strategic Investments. MTN is listed on
the Johannesburg Stock Exchange under
the Telecommunications Service Sector
(which falls under Industrial Non-Cyclical
Services). Visit www.mtn.co.za
Pinger
Pinger’s mission is to make global messag-
ing fun, free, and easy. Pinger has a globally-
scalable monetization platform and is the
number-one free texting and calling app in
the United States, with 12 million monthly
active users and billions of text messages
sent. Visit www.pinger.com
SAP Mobile Services
SAP Mobile Services is a global leader in
mobile interconnection and mobile con-
sumer engagement services. It provides
mobile operators with unparalleled capabili-
ties in global messaging interconnect, data
roaming and an array of IPX-based services
and enables enterprises to engage with
their consumers through innovative mobile
marketing and engagement solutions.
SAP Mobile Services helps businesses
process 1.8 billion messages per day,
reaching more than 1,000 operators and
6.1 billion subscribers across 210 countries.
Visit www.sap.com/sapmobileservices
StarHub
Launched in 2000, StarHub is Singapore’s
fully integrated info-communications
company, offering a wide range of informa-
tion, communications, and entertainment
services for both consumer and corporate
markets. StarHub operates a mobile network
that provides 2G, 3G, and 4G services. It also
manages an island-wide hybrid fiber-coaxial
network that delivers pay TV, residential
broadband, and fixed-line services, as well
as an extensive business fixed network that
provides data, voice, and wholesale services.
Over Singapore’s Next Generation Nation-
wide Broadband Network, StarHub offers
a broad range of home and business broad-
band plans along with a host of advanced
value-added services, such as IPTV for com-
mercial entities. Visit www.starhub.com
T-Mobile US, Inc.
As America’s Un-carrier, T-Mobile US,
Inc. is redefining the way consumers and
businesses buy wireless services through
leading product and service innovation.
The company's advanced nationwide 4G
LTE network delivers outstanding wireless
experiences for customers who are unwill-
ing to compromise on quality and value.
Based in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile US
provides services through its subsidiaries
and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile
and MetroPCS. Visit www.t-mobile.com
Telecom Review
Telecom Review is a Trace Media publica-
tion, distributed in all Middle East and North
Africa countries and also Iran, Pakistan, and
other African countries. It has a monthly
fast print and growing run of over 42,000
copies. Visit www.telecomreview.com
Telefónica
Telefónica is one of the world’s leading
integrated operators in the telecommun-
ications sector, providing communication,
information, and entertainment solutions in
24 countries throughout Europe and Latin
America. As of September 2013, Telefónica’s

total number of customers amounted to
320.3 million. Telefónica has one of the
most international profiles in the sector –
more than 77% of its business comes
from outside its home market, Spain –
and is a reference point in the Spanish-
and Portuguese-speaking market. Visit
www.telefonica.com
Yankee Group
Yankee Group is the pre-eminent research
and advisory firm equipping companies
to profit in a mobile world. The core of its
content is proprietary research and analy-
tics on the attitudes, behaviors, and usage
patterns of mobile users. Yankee Group
provides a range of actionable data, insights,
and advice to marketing, strategy, and
product executives driving the mobility
revolution in leading companies worldwide.
Visit www.yankeegroup.com
Zipwhip
Texting is for more than the mobile phone.
Zipwhip pioneered the concept of utilizing
the cloud to enable existing mobile, landline,
and toll-free numbers to send and receive
text messages from virtually any connected
desktop, tablet, or smartphone. Zipwhip
powers a messaging service on any device
over any number. (Consumers and small
businesses can sign up at www.zipwhip.
com.) Additionally, Zipwhip offers a carrier-
grade texting platform to help mobile and
landline operators modernize the text mes-
saging medium. Its technology introduces
trailblazing functionality while holding true
to the distinct culture of texting that cons-
umers have grown to love. Zipwhip now has
more than eight million registered users of
its texting services. Visit www.zipwhip.com

160
Acknowledgements
Editorial Direction
Diarmuid Mallon
Ashruti Singh
Carmel Coscia
Project Managers
Jann Yip
Design
Ros Caré for Boing Design Paris
BoingDesignParis@yahoo.co.uk
Developed and Produced
BaySide Media
www.BaySideMedia.com

162
© 2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP AG or an
SAP affiliate company.
SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of
SAP AG (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. Please see http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.
epx#trademark for additional trademark information and notices. Some software products marketed by SAP AG and its distributors contain
proprietary software components of other software vendors.
National product specifications may vary.
These materials are provided by SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any
kind, and SAP AG or its affiliated companies shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP
AG or SAP affiliate company products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products
and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.
In particular, SAP AG or its affiliated companies have no obligation to pursue any course of business outlined in this document or any related
presentation, or to develop or release any functionality mentioned therein. This document, or any related presentation, and SAP AG’s or its
affiliated companies’ strategy and possible future developments, products, and/or platform directions and functionality are all subject to change
and may be changed by SAP AG or its affiliated companies at any time for any reason without notice. The information in this document is not
a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. All forward-looking statements are subject to various
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance
on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates, and they should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions.
www.sap.com/contactsap

Mobile Operator Guide - Innovation and Transformation

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Mobile Operator Guide - Innovation and Transformation (20)

Mobile Operator Guide - Innovation and Transformation