Technological advances and regulatory changes have resulted in significantly lower barriers to entry in communications and entertainment markets. Established communications providers, faced with stagnating core revenues, are looking to extend their service portfolios in order to sustain future growth. At the same time, non-traditional players, particularly those with claims in hardware and software value chains, are extending their reach as a result of the increasing ubiquity of IP.
There is a growing amount of overlap between the portfolios of different types of player, and this challenges existing business models and promises to reconfigure some markets. In the telecoms industry, much discussion of the future revolves around talk of an ecosystem of co-operative partnerships but some areas of the communications market will be hotly contested as rivals vie for closer relationships with customers and for greater shares of revenue.
Opportunities for Non-traditional Players in Communications Markets identifies the major areas of contention in communications markets and discusses the strategies that non-traditional players can employ to maximise their role in the value chain. A key consideration in evaluating potential strategies is the nature of the opportunities on offer, which can take the form of core communications service revenues, threats to potential revenues as existing players extend their portfolios and incremental revenues created by new forms of communications usage.
The report analyses different service areas in turn: services enabled by connectivity, which are principally voice services but also include messaging, videocommunications and related applications, are examined in Chapter 2. The following two chapters look at content distribution markets: video content, including broadcast and on-demand services, is discussed in Chapter 3 and audio content is covered in Chapter 4. Many of the report’s themes are revisited in the concluding chapter, in which the positioning of the various types of player is assessed relative to the potential opportunities.
Opportunities for Non-traditional Players in Communications Markets answers your key questions:
- What are the major weaknesses in telecoms operators' portfolios?
- What strategies can non-traditional players employ to maximise communications revenues?
- How is the communications value chain likely to evolve?
- Which players are best positioned to benefit from likely developments in the market?
