The new mobile world
New Cell C CEO, Alan Knott-Craig said social networks, mobile data and smartphones are three of the biggest trends which will change the mobile telecommunications market in the future.
Speaking at an event in Johannesburg, Knott-Craig said that the growth of social networks changes the dynamic of the market.
Knott-Craig argued that younger people have a strong association with their social network – much stronger than with other companies like their telecoms provider or bank.
The strong loyalty to social networks, coupled with the richness of personal information which social networks have about their members, means that these companies can offer their members a wide range of tailor-made products.
The products offered by social network may-well include banking solutions and telecommunications services, argued Knott-Craig.
“Telcos must be much smarter about how to use the data they have about their customers, and we must be smarter about the services and packages which we offer to customers,” said Knott-Craig.
The new Cell C CEO said that Apple’s iPhone taught the world that life can be easy, and it can be simple to get what you want from technology.
Knott-Craig does not expect ‘quantum leap’ developments in the smartphone market, but rather a steady improvement in devices, and a significant reduction in price.
The Cell C CEO predicted that most cellular users will have smartphones in future, which will increase the mobile data use exponentially and boost the need for higher data speeds.
Knott-Craig said that the demand for data currently far-exceeds the supply. Supply must increase, and with that should come lower prices.
However, these lower prices mean lower margins to mobile operators, but according to Knott-Craig that is unavoidable.
“Because this country started pretty late in building super-high capacity infrastructure – [because Telkom was the only company allowed to build fixed-line networks] – I guess the operators, as we have all been, were pretty much used to the margins [on data] they enjoyed from voice,” argued Knott-Craig.
Knott-Craig continued, saying that the higher data speeds, which consumers will demand, must be accompanied by lower prices.
The lower data prices mean lower margins to operators, and this in turn will require a rethink of current business models. The growing trend of carrying voice over data will further put pressure on operators to move to a low margin, high volume mindset, he concluded.
Related articles
Cell C to sign another virtual operator agreement
Price is not a strategy: Alan Knott-Craig
Loading ...