Carriers must adapt to the shifting paradigms of connectivity in order to stay in the game, said executives at CommunicAsia2011’s CEO Perspectives panel Wednesday.
The entrance of competing players and new technologies such as cloud computing may have impacted margins, but carriers need to recognize connectivity as the core underlying product and continue to innovate despite these changes, said Joseph O’Konek, CEO of Hong Kong operator CSL.
Tore Johnsen, CEO of Bangladesh’s Grameenphone, agreed. “Embracing connectivity as a commodity and offering services that customers will pay for is the way forward, even if people aren’t making money the way they used to,” said Johnsen. “We are still experiencing high growth in Bangladesh and continuing to trim unprofitable units while focusing on profitable ones such as mobile banking in developing markets.”
Other executives on the panel said the recent focus on cloud computing would pose significant challenges. Gregory Wade, Research In Motion’s managing director for Asia-Pacific, emphasized the importance of continued efficiency and data utilization.
“With companies moving many mission critical applications to the cloud, the ability to manage from a disaster recovery perspective is huge,” he said.
The strain on networks caused by cloud computing could possibly be mitigated by data compression technologies in handsets, said Nokia’s EVP of sales Colin Giles, who also suggested operators work with developers and handset manufacturers to drive revenue.
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