Messaging Trend – OTT over MNO

Messaging Trend – OTT over MNO

Our choice of chat clients nowadays is huge. Chatting has left the desktop behind and expanded onto mobile in a big way. These days, everyone is getting in on the act. Recent research revealed that chat apps will account for double the traffic of traditional text messages by the end of the year. Most messaging apps now offer a host of additional features to try and reel you in. Expanding beyond the basic one-on-one text chat, with real-time updates now a standard, we can have group conversations with audio or video, share files, and even consume content together and just hang out.

Mobile device users sent an average of 36.6 billion messages per day throughout 2012. Not all of them were text messages, however. In fact, fewer than half were routed through traditional, carrier-based SMS services. Analyst house Informa says that 19 billion messages were sent each day from mobile chat apps, while 17.6 billion were sent via Short Message Service

The shift could significantly erode revenues for mobile networks, which last year missed out on $25bn (£16.1bn) of revenue from texting due to "over the top" (OTT) apps, which will rise this year to $34bn, says Ovum, an Informa subsidiary.

OTT - In the fields of broadcasting and content delivery, Over-The-Top Content (OTT) describes broadband delivery of video and audio without a multiple system operator being involved in the control or distribution of the content itself. Consumers can access OTT content through internet-connected devices such as PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones including iPhones and Droid phones, set-top boxes, Smart TVs and gaming consoles such as the Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Consumers can access Apps in most App stores also.

MNO - The MNO file contains XML information that are used to gain information about record sets on the page. The XML file defines the name and data type of the record set columns.

The rise of OTT apps is not a new topic, services such as Skype, WhatsApp, Kik, BBM, Viber, iMessage, KakaoTalk, Facebook Messenger and others have been on the rise for the last few years, and these services have been causing great concern to MNOs for some time.

OTT an Alternative to MNO and SMS

MNOs worry about the erosion of their much-loved, once-very-high-margin SMS revenues, and it is certainly true that the raft of new OTT [Instant] Messaging apps have stunted the growth of SMS, and even started the gradual decline in a few markets, such as the USA. While SMS traffic and revenues continue to grow at a worldwide level, North America and some markets in Europe and SE Asia have seen SMS abruptly challenged, as many switch to the new, free, services. However, the real worry here is much more serious. Apple have enabled a generation of devices (iPod) that appeal to young children, that enable phone-like communications, yet do not require a phone to use.

These young children are growing up thinking differently to any previous generation. These kids are being taught that in order to make voice calls, send text and picture messages make video calls and use the web wirelessly, you do NOT need a phone, you do NOT need a contract, and you do not need an MNO.

NO network

NO contract

NO MNO

NO phone!

NO service provider relationship

As Wi-Fi becomes a cut-price marketing tool, increasingly available openly for free, or in exchange for nothing more than a name and an email address, connectivity to the World Wide Web in urban areas is increasingly open, free and unmonitored. As more young people start carrying devices like iPods, connecting to the net at home, work, school, college and in public places such as cafés, bars, shopping malls and leisure centers, becomes easier and, most worrying, expected. The #1 sales-boom product in consumer electronics now is tablets. With more kids carrying tablets, this trend will accelerate rapidly. Young children and teenagers are extremely cost conscious - either because they have to plead with their parents to pay the bill, or because they are using their own, very limited, budget. Either way, they are now growing up to EXPECT free Wi-Fi to be available almost wherever they go.

Trend for Next Ten years

Almost everyone I know has broadband and Wi-Fi at home. Almost every school and college and university has Wi-Fi. Almost every shopping mall, café, coffee house, bar and restaurant has Wi-Fi. Think how this will expand over the next TEN years. This holiday season, expect to see roaring sales of all consumer electronics, including smartphones, yes, but also iPod, iPad, Kindle Fire, Windows Surface, Galaxy Tab or Note...the ever increasing array of fantastic tablets will reach hundreds of millions more young people over the coming years. Now imagine how many people will own Internet capable devices in TEN years' time

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