Non-voice mobile services research from Sound Partners

We help you understand the opportunities from non-voice wireless services, including messaging, mobile TV, community portals, mobile broadband and fixed broadband, mobile music and mobile gaming. Learn from successful case studies worldwide.  

With intense pressure on voice revenues, mobile operators urgently need to find ways of increasing non-voice ARPU. However, despite an abundance of non-voice service initiatives since the introduction of GPRS and, more recently, 3G, many operators in developed markets have failed to bring about a significant increase in non-voice ARPU. Faced with an increasingly diverse range of non-voice service choices, mobile operators need to identify and implement those that add most value to their businesses in their respective markets.

Organisations should learn from non-voice successes

Despite the general poor performance of non-voice services, some operators are managing to buck the trend with innovative services, and these present an opportunity for others to replicate their success. The World’s Top Ten Non-voice Services for Mobile Operators identifies the top ten services from a large number of non-voice services worldwide. Detailed case studies of the winning services show the way to major revenue opportunities and quick wins.

Service diversification will be needed

To achieve strong growth in non-voice service revenue, mobile operators will need to diversify their mobile service portfolios. The report Mobile Operator Strategies for Fixed Broadband shows that fixed broadband services could be a means of growing revenue, while also bringing other benefits. The report evaluates the practical options for delivering fixed broadband services, assessing the economics of each option, and identifies the factors that should be considered to implement a successful fixed broadband service.

Pricing will be critical to non-voice growth

Pricing decisions have never been more important for mobile operators. The report Pricing Mobile Services for Success: towards a bundled future shows that pricing has an immediate role to play in kick-starting much-needed new revenue from mobile data services. It evaluates different pricing methods, including bundled pricing and flat-rate pricing.

Mobile TV could be profitable

Trials have confirmed strong interest in mobile TV and radio, and these will soon become must-have services for mobile operators. However, the challenge is to deliver such services profitably since end users may not prepared to pay significant charges. The report Evaluating the Options for Mobile TV and Radio Broadcasting in Western Europe identifies and evaluates the realistic deployment options for several broadcasting technologies (including DAB-IP, T-DMB, DVB-H and TDtv), and quantifies the take-up and revenue per service user needed to achieve an adequate financial return from each.

Look beyond consumers to the enterprise market

With the growth opportunities in the consumer market becoming increasingly limited, mobile operators urgently need to understand, and pursue, the opportunities from enterprise mobilty. The report Seizing the Opportunities from Enterprise Mobility show that there are substantial opportunities for mobile operators that can find a way through the complexity of enterprise mobility to offer solutions ranging from voice and email to mobilisation of corporate applications.