Surge in data will see telcos change strategy, says Ovum

Cloud services will also have an impact on business models in 2011

Analysts at Ovum predict a year of transformation for the telecoms industry caused by surging volumes of mobile data.

"The telecoms landscape is changing rapidly and our predictions reflect that," said Jan Dawson, Ovum's chief telecoms analyst.

With the surge in smartphones and tablets seen in 2010, it is unsurprising that telecoms companies are having to reassess their mobile data strategy and look at how they can deal with the rapid increase in traffic.

Consequently, Ovum expects telecoms companies to start debating their data business models and tariff strategies. This is likely to be followed by innovative approaches to data service charging for users of smartphones and tablets.

Further to this, Ovum argues that making the crucial 800MHz and 2.6GHz blocks of spectrum required for next-generation mobile broadband available will be a top priority for those in the industry.

However, with Ofcom's recent announcement that the 4G spectrum auction will not occur until the first quarter of 2012, with the eventual release of it scheduled for the end of 2013, it is unlikely that telecoms companies will be able to do more than prepare for these dates.

Mobile data is also likely to affect the telecoms supply chain, as Ovum predicts that for vendors to be successful they will need to execute well in high-growth applications such as mobile broadband.

With the release of the enterprise-orientated Windows Phone 7 last year, analysts believe this will upset the market by becoming the fastest growing platform in 2011. Also, Android will overtake the iPhone as the favourite with mobile developers by the end of the year.

Ovum also expects cloud services to move from early adoption seen last year to the mainstream stage, and suggests this may affect emerging telco services.

Consumers will also be put at the centre of operations, with telcos increasing investment in customer service centres and back-office technology.