CTIA panel blame complex ecosystem for threatening mobile’s success
The CTIA panelists have come to a conclusion that mobile is a great way for brands to connect with consumers, but the complexity of the ecosystem is going to make it hard for it to succeed.
The panel of the Evolution of an Ecosystem How Technology Influences Marketing†had a discussion on evolution of ecosystem and how mobile has influenced consumer purchase decision. The panel also discussed how to measure mobile advertising, whether it consists of a successful campaign or not.
According to Kai Buehler, CEO of MindMatics, Santa Monica, the company is in a position where the Internet was 10 years ago.
Mobile marketing is not a new concept there has been a good response of smartphone adoption and mobile has the potential to integrate with other channels.
Several of the panelist including Ingrid Kelly, vice president of Motorola, San Francisco, CA, and Bruce Stewart, CEO of kgb, Washington agreed that the ecosystem is still immature and developers do not know who to partner with or where to turn for help.
Mr. Buehler who worked on several mobile marketing campaigns such as Deal or no Deal†and America’s Next Top Model†believed that the company still has the hosts telling viewers to text in and showing them exactly how to do that.
Effects the FCC broadband plan have on mobile marketing
The Federal Communications Commission, FCC has submitted a National Broadband Plan to Congress which is expected to be very promising for mobile marketing and commerce.
The aim of this plan is to connect all corners of the nation while transforming the economy and society with the communications network of the future a robust, affordable Internet.
According to an FCC spokesman, mobile is essential to the future of broadband. These days Americans access the Internet from devices they carry around with them wherever they go very commonly.
In order to make sure that mobile grows into the next great platform for innovation in America, the broadband plan recommends making 500 megahertz of spectrum newly available over the next 10 years and 300 megahertz in five years.
FCC is of the opinion that if these steps are not taken, we will put ourselves at risk of limiting the potential of mobile broadband. At the same time if we take proactive steps now, America will be ensured as the home of the worlds best mobile broadband networks in the decade. it will also protect the country’s global competitiveness.
Amdocs solution to be deployed by Telecom Americas (Claro)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Amdocs’ proprietary support customer ordering, sales force automation, e-commerce and web self-service solutions have been rolled out by Brazilian mobile operator Telecom Americas (Claro).
Claro’s entire sales channel network in Brazil will be supported by Amdocs’ platform, including all its call centers, dealerships and retail kiosks.
In order to extend its sales channel and increase potential revenue opportunities, Claro, a unit of Mexican mobile giant America Movil, plans to introduce e-commerce as a new service in the country.
Telenor to be the only telco to bid for Serbia’s second fixed-line license
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to Serbia’s telecommunications agency Ratel, the only company to present a bid for the country’s second fixed-line operator licence was Telenor. Mobile operator VIP, Cyprus-based Kerseyco Trading and Serbian-American Konsing Group are the other three companies who had qualified for the bidding.
However, all the necessary documents to participate in the bidding were provided only by Telenor. Company’s financial bid for the second landline operator license granted for a period of ten years will be opened by 18 January.
Aircel keenly interested in Indian 3G auction
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The stiffening of the competition in the fast growing Indian telecom market has made the telecom operator Aircel highly interested in the upcoming 3G auction. This will help the company to offer premium-priced multimedia capabilities such as email and video on their mobile phones and the high-speed services that the bandwidth allows is expected to attract users willing to pay a premium.
74% of the company is owned by Malaysia’s Maxis Communications Bhd and the balance 26% stake in Aircel is owned by India’s Apollo Hospitals group. The company operates in 18 of India’s 22 telecom service areas.
Aircel’s talks are on with three companies to sell its tower operations; however, the names of the companies are not disclosed. The deal may be finalized in six to eight weeks. Bharti Infratel, which is the tower arm of Bharti Airtel Ltd., American Tower Corp., and Wireless TT Infoservices Ltd are some of the companies reported by the media to be interested in buying Aircel’s towers.
$850 million investment to be made by America Movil in Mexico
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: $850 million investment is eyed by Latin America’s biggest mobile operator America Movil SAB in its domestic operations by 2010. Operating in the 18 countries of Americas, the Company had reported
194.3 million wireless subscribers at the end of September.
America Movil’s largest market is Mexico where its TelCel unit had a 72% market share at the end of the third quarter, with 58.4 million subscribers. According to Movil’s Chief Executive Daniel Hajj, the company invested about $850 million alone in Mexico which may remain same in 2010.
As part of the federal government’s 2010 budget, Mexico’s Congress approved a 3% special tax on telecommunications services and a one percentage point increase to the national value added tax, including other tax increases.America Movil is still evaluating the impact that higher taxes will have on TelCel next year.
Earlier this month, fixed-line carrier Telefonos de Mexico SAB and America Movil’s sister company announced that it will not pass on the cost of higher taxes next year to customers.
AT&T launches new iPhone application (America)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to allow the user to provide specific feedback about network coverage, American operator AT&T has launched a new iPhone application which will also capture the GPS coordinates when a call
fails, when there’s no coverage, no data service, or there’s poor voice quality.
When the user will submit its complaints, AT&T will send them an SMS, acknowledging that the event happened.The app has already received 23 comments. While most of the users have given lot of stars, there are some who have used the opportunity to show their disgust.
However, AT&T has also admitted that the company has no idea what are the holes in the network.
Amobee Media Systems helps Telefónica to roll out its Mobile Advertising Globally
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Amobee Media Systems announced that it has successfully delivered campaign management platform and global mobile ad serving for Telef³nica in its 18 markets worldwide with its O2 businesses actively serving brand campaigns in UK, Ireland, Germany, Czech Republic, Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Chile.
Telef³nica with the help of Amobee can dynamically ad-serve all mobile communication channels including mobile internet, applications, games, video, and messaging through one uniform advertising solution.
Besides, Telef³nica can also serve as a single point for agencies and advertisers who wish to buy ad-enabled inventory to deploy and monitor campaigns across multiple channels and markets simultaneously.
Amobee Media Systems, the world leader in advertising solutions for mobile operators, through its operator-centric approach and unique composition of exclusive partnerships in key geographies has served mobile advertising campaigns for many of the world’s top agencies and brands enabling them to achieve as much as 80% audience share in several markets.
Anatel warns operators to prove their 3G capacity in Brazil
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Brazil’s telecommunications regulator Anatel said that it will continue to veto the aggressive promotions of broadband Internet services of the operators. It warned the telco’s to prove that their networks can cope with the demand for mobile broadband services.
There has been an extensive expansion of broadband Internet services on mobiles with 20% increase in the clients taking the tally to 7.9 million in the month of October itself and is expected to reach 10 million by the end of the year.
The warning was issued amid this rapid expansion and in order to facilitate this growing demand, Anatel may also authorize network sharing between operators.
The local unit of Mexico’s America Movil SA and market leader in the Brazilian market, Vivo Participacoes and Claro along with other operators has decided to share infrastructure in order to face enormous investments in infrastructure in the coming years.
