Telecom operators are generally under persistent pressure to manage capital expenditures related to network deployment and struggling with ways to reduce network operating costs. Managed services providers help network operators realize these goals. The buzzword relating to IT Support is “IT Managed Services”, and every day more and more businesses are jumping on the bandwagon. As a definition, Managed Services allows a business to offload IT operations to a service provider, known as an IT Managed Services Provider. The IT managed services provider assumes an ongoing responsibility for 24×7 monitoring, managing, and/or problem resolution for the IT systems within a business.
The next stage in evolution is to outsource value-added services including content, commerce, and next-generation communication services. This is a key development as network operators are poised to lose revenue and margins both due to the marginalization of bearer services (voice and data both) and the need for value-added service (VAS) applications.
We continue to see top players such as Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia Siemens Networks dominate the market and remain committed to providing managed services. However, their dominance is threatened by disintermediating technologies such as Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networks (SDN). At the same time, NFV and SDN are both excellent opportunities for managed service providers to solidify their roles with network operators.
The changing nature of IT managed services in telecoms:
The mobile market is becoming an increasingly challenging environment: Regulation, competition within and outside the established value chain, the appearance of new entrants, and the fast-paced change in user requirements are starting to put a strain on mobile operator profit margins. Moreover, financial and market trends that previously followed a cycle of years can now disrupt a mobile business in mere months. One such example is the of erosion SMS-messaging revenue due to competition from OTT services and other free offerings from Web companies, including WhatsApp, Viber, and Apple’s Facetime and iMessage. Operators have little leeway to challenge these services and are realizing that they need to streamline their business in many ways so that they remain profitable and agile and can respond to user demands. As these trends progress, operators are finding out that vendors are likely to become valuable partners, rather than merely infrastructure providers.
Over 2010 through 2013, new trends have redefined the telecoms market, including mass-market LTE networks, rapid smartphone adoption and awareness of data services among users, as well as several other trends that have established new ecosystems. There are a number of opportunities for and threats to mobile operators in developed markets.
With Flightcase’s Telecom/IT managed services, we take full responsibility for running customer’s backend Operations of NOC/Engineering services; day to day switch maintenance as well as we can take care of their Rates/Billing activities.
