New research from Premonvision shows that telecoms-based standards for residential services, such as IPTV, lack momentum with Western European operators
LONDON, United Kingdom, -7 July, 2010 – The Western European service delivery platform overview 2010-2013 by consulting firm Premonvision reveals detailed information on how operators in the region plan their service delivery platforms (for services such as IPTV, telemedicine and home automation) for the time period 2010-2013. Select highlights from the report:
-Operators are at best slow to adopt standards for managed service delivery and discovery, from industry fora such as Open IPTV Forum and the ITU-T. Instead CI+ is sailing up as an alternative (but more limited) solution.
-Cloud services for the residential market in an operator environment are at very early stages; in some cases inhibited by legacy IT infrastructure and legacy operating & billing support systems.
-Premonvision expects significant business opportunities for operators that successfully combines telecoms, energy, alarm, home automation and/or health care networks and data streams.
“Our research is very timely. Just two days ago the new CEO of France Télécom announced a new direction for the company, which scales back investments in IPTV. We have advised clients and the industry of the perils of current IPTV deployments and guided clients on turning IPTV into a profitable business. Our supportive research on IPTV profitability highlight these issues, where we have evaluated the profit and losses of major IPTV operators, where all operators including France Télécom, were loss making. It is therefore with great interest we note that one of the major players in IPTV now changes direction”, states Carl Gressum, Principal Advisor and responsible for the research. “Given the lack of profitability for IPTV operators there is no great surprise that operators are slow to invest in standards that do not immediately yield boosts in profits”, adds Mr. Gressum. Not only do IPTV operators face challenging times due to lack of profitability, they also face an increasingly more complex market place. Western European broadcasters are pushing along for the Hybrid Broadband Broadcast TV (HBBTV) specifications, where they are openly seeking cooperation from consumer electronics companies; a partnership area telcos have largely failed to build. Additionally, Google is building Google TV which runs on a very different business model than for current IPTV services. Operators in the region need to increase clarity on what their role is in the content delivery market as the competitive situation and competitive parameters change and become more complex.
Compared to last year's release telemedicine is gaining momentum in the region, where towards the end of the research time period a majority of the operators expect to have telemedicine services in place. Operators typically face the challenge of defining the depth of service commitments. Partners, such as regulators, hospitals and care facilities, are sought to drive the market. “Given the interest from the European Commission on telemedicine we expect that this market to represent a potential growth area for the industry. Coupled with ageing populations in Western Europe operators may see significant business opportunities. However, the market may not be mature enough yet for telemedicine services”, comments Mr. Gressum. “Based on our confidential interviews and our own assessments operators are well positioned to combine the traditionally separated data networks of health care, telecoms, energy, and security. By doing so they can create a raft of new innovating services. At the same time there needs to be an alignment between the operator's resources, processes and values and new services. Otherwise we can expect misguided investments as we have seen with IPTV”, closes Mr. Gressum.
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NOTE TO EDITORS
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ABOUT THE RESEARCH
The service delivery platform research is conducted on a regional basis based on confidential and in-depth operator interviews. In these interviews decision makers discuss plans for their commitments and views on the service delivery platforms over a three year period. These discussions focus on services, service delivery, middleware and service standardisation. This programme covers Western Europe and Asia Pacific.
ABOUT PREMONVISION
Premonvision, the advisory and consulting firm, focuses on the converged market of telecommunications, media and technology. The company consults telecommunications, media and the vendor industries on service models, business process reorganisation, and value chain and appropriation realignments.
