Disruptive retail business models
From "Dumb Pipe" to "Happy Pipe"
Produced by Disruptive Analysis and published by Telco 2.0 / STL Partners
Both fixed and mobile broadband markets will continue growing in revenues, up to $416bn in 2020, but operators face some hard decisions about future business models, according to a study published by the Telco 2.0TM Initiative and co-authored by research & consulting firm Disruptive Analysis.
The new report, “Mobile, Fixed & Wholesale Broadband Business Models: Best Practice Innovation, ‘Telco 2.0' Opportunities, Forecasts and Future Scenarios” finds that telecom operators will benefit from both new types of broadband wholesale, and more sophisticated direct-to-user retail propositions and tariffs.
Recent introductions of new tiered and capped wireless Internet data plans are early evidence of this trend.
Key findings from the report include:
· Global broadband access is forecast to increase from 4bn in 2010, to 6bn in 2020, an increase of 52% in revenue terms.
· More than half the revenue growth will come from wholesale and “two-sided” fees for improved access capacity and quality. This means revenue from parties other than the end-user themselves.
· By 2020, mobile broadband will be worth $138bn, or 32% of the total broadband access industry revenues.
· Three new revenue streams are identified: “Bulk Wholesale”, “Comes with Data”, “Slice and Dice”.
· New ‘upstream’ customers are forecast to generate over $90 billion in broadband revenues globally by 2020.
Today, many operators fear the supposed risks of becoming “dumb pipes”, but the study suggests the forecast market value means the term “happy pipe” is more appropriate for some. Certain telecom carriers will be able to add further value through enhanced “Telco 2.0” value-add services and platforms, but it is important to note that the basic carriage of data can itself be profitable and a source of substantial growth.
The incremental revenue opportunity for new “slice and dice” wholesale business models in mobile broadband alone is forecast to be bn worldwide by 2020.
The report covers:
- Best practice innovation, and detailed assessment of ‘Telco 2.0' opportunities, in Mobile Broadband, Advanced New Wholesale, and Fixed Retail Broadband Business Models
- Four scenarios for broadband market players: ‘Telco 2.0 Player', ‘Happy Piper', ‘Device Specialist', and ‘Government Department'
- Covering mobile broadband (HSPA, WiMAX, LTE) and ADSL, cable, fibre
- Detailed discussion about whether broadband providers can develop new revenue streams from content providers, Internet players and cloud application developers
- Disruptive Analysis / Telco 2.0's forecasts for the Broadband Access market
- An advanced and detailed ‘Use Case' for a specific Telco 2.0 Opportunity, ‘Managed Offload of Mobile Broadband to Fixed Networks'
- Conclusions and recommendations for Telcos and other Broadband Service providers (BSPs) and their partners