Mobile operators urged to rethink content strategies

Mobile operators working in emerging markets risk being supplanted by other types of service providers, such as app stores, if they do not adapt their offerings quickly, according to a new report by analyst firm Ovum.

Ovum analyst and author of the report Angel Dobardziev explained that the market landscape was changing because as soon as a consumer has bought a data access plan, they begin to move away from telco services.

This trend is exacerbated by the fact that many device and platform vendors are establishing alternative content distribution platforms that connect providers and end users more quickly and cheaply than telcos.

"This will ultimately reduce the role of mobile operators to little more than providers of bandwidth," he said.

According to the report, while the emerging markets mobile data space will grow significantly in the next five years, it is still highly immature, with less than a fifth of mobile users currently venturing beyond SMS, ringtones and logos.

Meanwhile, it claims that feature phones will be the key mobile content battleground in the short-term as smartphone use in emerging markets will continue to be limited until at least 2013.

Dobardziev continued: "Telcos currently have mobile content strategies that are increasingly inadequate for addressing the new challenges and competition they now face. The key issue is one of strategic clarity on whether telcos plan to make money from bandwidth, mobile content or both. This issue goes to the core of the bit-pipe versus full service provider debate."