Telecom network outsourcing and managed services could represent a $76 billion opportunity by 2016, according to a new report from Infonetics Research. The research firm noted that the report takes into account revenues that vendors generate from “performing network planning and design, building, maintenance, operations, application service delivery, service provisioning and activation, and billing services for network operators.”
“We anticipated that service providers across the board would continue to outsource at an unabated pace, but revenue in the first half of 2012 is already 2% higher than expected, with all [original equipment manufacturer] vendors reporting healthy growth in outsourcing, professional and managed services,” explained Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics. “This gives us pause to ask what would happen to some of these vendors if they didn’t have a presence in services.”
Infonetics notes that the outsourcing market was set to hit $65 billion this year, which would be an 11% year-over-year increase, on its way to the $76 billion mark by 2016. The main driver for carriers looking at the outsourcing market is reducing operating expenses related to designing, building, maintaining and billing services.
In addition, Europe, the Middle East and Africa are leading the way in outsourced services, with the likes of Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Siemens currently managing approximately one-third of all telecom customers worldwide through managed service deals.
Domestically, the managed services market is still somewhat subdued as most operators look to maintain strict control over their operations. Ericsson has garnered a foothold in the space having struck deals to operate mobile networks for Sprint Nextel and Clearwire.
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