On the face of it, mobile broadband has been a huge success story, enjoying rapid take-up in many markets. However, the potential goes way beyond the basic access that many communications service providers (CSP) have seen so far. To build a sustainable future for mobile broadband we must create new opportunities – and that will take innovation, the like of which we have yet to see in our industry.
Consider these facts about Facebook. About 95% of Facebook users have used one or more of the 52,000 applications available on the Facebook platform. More than 140 new applications are added every day by the 660,000 people in the Facebook developer community.
It's a great example of the kind of innovation that a healthy ecosystem can achieve, an ecosystem built on openness and simplicity. It is time for the communications industry to focus on creating its own vibrant ecosystem.
This sector enjoys a scale and value that is far beyond anything that Facebook can hope for. Value lies in a huge global subscriber base that will grow to five billion by 2015. It also lies in unbeatable services that people are willing to pay for - voice and SMS.
CSPs also have tremendous value locked up in their subscriber databases - they know who we are, what we spend on and often even where we are. Unifying this subscriber data and using it to enrich the customer experience and open up new revenue streams is vital.
Opening up subscriber data is just one part of the greater openness that we all need to adopt. We also need open architecture, open partnerships and greater simplicity for developers in the form of easy toolkits and transparent revenue sharing. Through these and other we can find new ways to generate value from our assets.
To drive our shared success, we are working across the industry to create the 21st century ecosystem that will underpin the evolution, business value and positive social impact of communications.
Despite today's current financial turmoil, the business success of tomorrow depends on making the right investments now to build an energetic and innovation-driven ecosystem for the industry. Let's work together to make this happen.
Simon Beresford-Wylie
Chief Executive Officer
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