Telecom operators know that their competitive presence is increasingly coming from their ability to provide value-added services on top of their traditional voice and data offerings, otherwise they would be just pipes. This topic was key for OSS/BSS provider Amdocs as it unveiled a pair of solutions targeting the machine-to-machine and connected home space designed to enable service providers to create new revenue streams, provide a unified customer experience and allow operators to more effectively compete with over-the-top players.
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“We aim to offer methods [that allow] telecom operators to escape being just a pipe,” said Amdocs’ president for Cala, Patrick McGrory, during a video conference in São Paulo.
“Carrier competition will be on the service level,” explained Nelson Wang, Amdocs’ Brazil VP. The question, he added, is how operators will move from being just a pipe to becoming a smart services provider.
“Operators are moving from connectivity to provide more intelligence in network. They look to simplify the customer experience to become more competitive, reduce costs and for a better time to market,” Wang added.
McGrory highlighted changes in the region, citing the increase of data penetration as a great opportunity for carriers. Based on that, Amdocs is focusing its portfolio on providing intelligence to telecom operators. The company noted that this is the third “telecommunication’s age.” The first one – from 1982 to 1991 – was the connectivity age; which was followed by the Internet age from 1992 to 2011. “The cycles are becoming more accelerated, which increase the speed to address them solutions,” noted Wang.
Amdocs explained that consumers are overwhelmed by the explosion of choices in services, devices and price plans, and they want simplicity and rich value offers. From a service provides perspectives, they see an insatiable demand and they need to optimize the network and introduce new monetization models.
According to the company, there are four imperatives for services providers’ success: simplify experience; harness data; stay ahead of the competition; and be efficient. Amdocs claims its new solutions are designed to offer carriers alternatives so they can build different business models.
The M2M solution is a pre-packaged, pre-configured end-to-end solution designed to allow service providers to support partners offering M2M applications such as smart utility meters, connected electrical vehicles and connected healthcare. The real-time solution can support multiple dynamic business models including converged, prepaid and postpaid, and the complex M2M value chain.
The connected home offering is a cloud-based solution designed to allow service providers to launch pre-packaged home and business services such as remote security, energy, health and multimedia. It can be integrated with existing business and operational support systems (B/OSS) and core network elements. Amdocs says this solution can allow service providers to increase revenue by up to 5%.
Although it is not available in Brazil, executives believe a commercial launch in the region could happen in the second half of this year.
“There is demand for this kind of service,” noted Edson Paiva, sales director at Amdocs Latin America, with the potential market estimated to be 5% of current broadband connections.
Right now, Amdocs is homologating partners and negotiating with carriers throughout Latin America – with the company targeting operators in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Venezuela.
New center
Regarding the Brazilian market where Amdocs has operated for the past 15 years, the company noted it was looking to generate new revenues from data as operators begin to transition to 4G, as well as improving customer’s experience to reduce churn and embrace customer loyalty.
Amdocs also announced a new customer support operating center in the São Carlos area of São Paulo. Amdocs said it should be operational later this year, and “shows the commitment to the Brazilian market.”
