Research Notes

Strand Consult has identified the 10 largest challenges for the future mobile broadband service business models

There is no doubt that there will be a mobile broadband services market, in the same way as the market we know from premium SMS and WAP. Strand Consult has now described this market and how it will develop in our reports Successfull strategies for the mobile broadband market and Show me the money – The future Business models for mobile Broadband Services.

In our report Show me the money – The future Business models for mobile Broadband Services, we have identified the 10 largest challenges regarding implementing the business model that will drive this market. We have called it the BCAP model – Broadband Content and Application Provider model.

Our analyses show very clearly that the technological challenges are much smaller than the mental challenges that the many different players in the mobile value chain are facing – in fact there are no technological issues that are preventing this market from taking off tomorrow.

If you examine the technological challenges, the technology is identical to the technology being used by mobile operators when handling IP billing on mobile phones that do not support WAP. In practice, the customer’s temporary IP number is linked to his mobile broadband connection account and the customer can thereby be billed for the various broadband services being handled by the operators.

If we made a list of the 10 largest challenges in our point of view that the industry is currently facing, it would look like this:

1.    The operators understanding of the possibilities the BCAP model will give them regarding new service offerings and revenue derived from these new services.
2.    Education of the value chain in order that it understands and implements the BCAP model in a sustainable manner. This is about creating an ecosystem of market players that can together create value for their customers.
3.    In which countries will this model conflict with the rules and regulations regarding credit card payments and other types of electronic payments?
4.    How will banks and credit card companies view this type of competition?
5.    The development of a number of business models that will make it attractive for all companies to be active players in the value chain.
6.    How should the market be regulated (self-regulation/public regulation) and how should one ensure that children and other weak groups are protected against scrupulous content providers?
7.    Limiting the types of services that can use this model. Are erotic content and various types of gambling interesting services, where are the limits and who will create the guidelines and rules?
8.    What about when end-users roam on other operators networks abroad? How should payment be handled and how should information be exchanged? How should revenue streams be shared?
9.    Net neutrality – How will operators handle market players that use the BCAP model compared to other players using some other type of direct billing, thereby bypassing the operators? Will the operators offer their BCAP customers better and increased functionality, than those that simply view the mobile operator as a dumb bit pipe? Will operators bundle billing and QoS together into one product?
10. Who will handle the technical integration between content providers and operators? Will it be the operators themselves, or gateway companies similar to those on the premium SMS market?

When you read through this list, there is no doubt that it is easy to both add additional new questions and elaborate on the 10 questions we have focused on.

In our reports Successfull strategies for the mobile broadband market and Show me the money – The future Business models for mobile Broadband Services, we have described and analysed the whole of this market and we have put forward a great number of solutions and suggestions to how various market players can be successful on the future mobile broadband services market.

We believe that it is important to take advantage of the experience already gained from the mobile services market, when designing the guidelines for the mobile broadband market. One thing is very certain, and that is as soon as the billing possibilities are available, services and providers focusing on this market will emerge.

The biggest question is the potential size of this market. We seriously believe that this market has an enormous opportunity to become even larger than the current mobile services market.

Purchase our reports Successfull strategies for the mobile broadband market and Show me the money – The future Business models for mobile Broadband Services and receive more knowledge about this market, how it is developing and how you can be successful on the mobile broadband market.
More information: Show me the money – The future Business models for mobile Broadband Services
Successfull strategies for the mobile broadband market

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