Rising to the OTT challenge

Last year we saw that DiGi realized this danger and partnered with Whatsapp. Recently DiGi also partnered with Twitter and Opera. Celcom on the other hand tried to encourage SMS usage through its SMS based social networking service called ‘Kolony’. While Maxis launched new TextMore plans and Super saver offers to push the SMS usage on its network. Are these steps enough to combat the OTT threat? Are the Malaysian Telcos just setting ‘fire to the rain’? We believe a lot more can be done. The key to solving this problem is INNOVATION. Amazingly, a lot can be learned from operators around the world.

NTT DOCOMO recently launched “Mobile-network-based voice translation service” (Hanashite Hon’yaku). It the first service in the world for automatic translation of voice calls via a mobile network. We all know that achieving a high accuracy on such translation is a great challenge. But if NTT DOCOMO manages to pull this off then they would have a service not cannibalized by OTT Voice (VOIP) or even OTT texts. Consumers who need this would have to talk on DOCOMO’s network. It’s a prime example of how a telecom operator can differentiate by leveraging on its greatest asset, the network. Other such noteworthy services are: Mobilinks’ (Pakistan) SMS based literacy program and Telkomsels’ (Indonesia) mChoice Soltura (subscriber driven portal to create SMS based applications).

These avant-garde offerings showcase the fact that there is still a lot of fizz left in the core Telco services. The onus lies on the Malaysian telecom operators to believe in it and show the value to the consumers.

Consumers go for services which offer them most value. One way for the telecom operators to offer higher value to the consumers is through shrewd collaborations with the OTT players. Some co-opetitive examples on these lines are: Skypes’ partnerships with various carriers, Facebooks’ partnerships with multiple Telcos for discounted FB messaging and NTT DOCOMO’s partnership with Baidu.

Telecom operators can leverage on their existing strengths, relationships and come out with differentiated value rich offerings. Together they can offer services in the areas of mobile commerce, M2M and smart devices. They can expand their horizon of products & services to other sectors such as healthcare, automotive and transportation. Some visionary offerings on these lines are: KT’s (Korea) smart financial service MoCa, GSMA’s Joyn RCS (Rich communication suite) service, Cross border e-money service alliance by KT & DOCOMO and Oranges’ fleet management service.

It’s not true that the pipes are completely dumb. The pipes are getting ‘smarter’ and rising up to the challenge. However, the Malaysian telecom operators still have a long way to go. They should see this daunting OTT challenge as an opportunity. It is an opportunity to become the best integrated service provider of the world. The telecom operator who successfully executes these above mentioned strategies can win not only against OTTs but also against other Telcos globally.