Carriers
Providing added value
Detecon applies its expertise for carriers in all areas of Strategy & Marketing, Organisation and Technology fundamentals. In the area of Strategy & Marketing we advise decision-makers on the conceptual side of sector, company, business segment or product strategies and in the implementation of marketing, innovation, regulatory and corporate finance themes. Concerning Operations and Technologies our clients rely on us for services involving the analysis, conception, planning, choice, implementation, optimization and the operation of communications platforms and systems. In close cooperation with our clients, we advise on:
- Innovation Management
- Strategic Marketing & Marketing Management
- CRM & Sales Strategies
- Regulation Policies & Management
- Organization & Processes Set-up and Optimization
- Strategic Network Outsourcing
- License Bidding
- Architecture Design, Roll-out & Implementation Management
- Service & Infrastructure Planning
- Tendering & Vendor Selection
- Technical Network Audit
- Platform Analysis, -Optimization & Migration Management
- Quality Assurance & Operation Efficiency
- Operation Management
- Due Diligence / Asset Valuation
Providing added value to customers is what distinguishes one carrier from another. Detecon supports its clients whether they are operating a wireless or wireline network, or being in the midst of a technology migration or network overlay, looking to improve or expand their network or build a new one, or launching a new product or service. Detecon provides integrated consultancy adapted to geographical regions and individually tailored to the specific demands of our clients.
Carrier
Mobility as the Norm
As fixed line and mobile networks continue to converge, mobile communications is completely losing its special status. Instead, mobility becomes the norm in convergent networks. Users can be reached at one telephone number via one end device, whether at a fixed place or on the go. Whether in the office, at home, or on the road, they always access the same services at the same quality. But this raises the demands made on network operators. They must establish new networks which replace the rigid linking of end devices, services, and contracts for the providers, and which enable offers sourced from different services and providers for the customers.
Standards and Technologies in the Networks of the Future
What standards will become established in the convergent multiservice networks of the third generation? Should carriers open their networks to competitors and third-party providers of added-value services as architectures become more open? What demands will markets and regulators make on service delivery platforms used by the network operators to provide and market telecommunications services? The convergence potential is far from being exhausted as shown by the mobile network cards from supermarkets or television on the cell phone. In the future, providers will be faced with the task of interconnecting various networks, services, devices, and billing services. The customer will then receive a portfolio of consistently high quality services tailored precisely to his or her needs.
Packaging Multimedia Offers to Suit the Customer
Powerful and flexible structures are required to offer customers video signals, data, voice, and mobile telephony in any combination over one network. Network operators and service providers become especially customer friendly when they deliver new products without delay which customers can then combine themselves according to their own preferences. Infrastructures must separate the application, transport, and access levels from one another to serve as the basis for such communications services. Moreover, efficient organizational models are demanded which, for example, tightly integrate development and coordination processes between and within all business divisions.
Services of the Next Generation
Next Generation Networks (NGN) offer multimedial services of all types via a standard, IP-based network and permit the flexible integration of processes. Service platforms and user devices can be used independently of one another. Nor does it play a role whether the end device receives the services via fixed line network, ISDN, WiMAX, DVB-H, UMTS, or some other standard. Service creation tools enable the design and engineering of convergent applications such as a multimedial, Internet-supported sales meeting. An efficient migration strategy takes into account all major business drivers before the establishment of an NGN and describes its financial, service-oriented, technical, and organizational dependencies.
More Service with Even More Quality
Startups in the telecommunications industry find themselves in a quandary. Thanks to digital network technologies, the chances of being successful with good business ideas are better than ever before. New products and services can be launched on the market within a very short period of time, gaining a competitive advantage. But at the same time, the prices for telco services are falling rapidly, growth rates are shrinking to normal levels, competitive pressures are rising. In view of this general situation, it is important to set yourself apart from the competition through optimal service and quality features and to retain maximum flexibility. The decisive tool to achieve this is optimal performance management which can keep costs and quality under control at all times and quickly realize product and service innovations.
Passing on Knowledge
Regulatory authorities in developing countries – but in industrialized countries as well – always step out into uncharted territory when they begin the deregulation of their telecommunications market; after all, deregulation generally only happens once. This makes the opportunity to benefit from international experience all the more valuable. Detecon has accompanied deregulation projects in more than 65 countries and can provide authorities with solid support in building up their know-how. It is important to train employees in their new duties and tasks quickly, specifically, and according to needs, and to secure the level of their qualifications permanently. The transfer of knowledge for the preparation of sector reforms, privatization statutes, license terms and conditions, and regulatory instruments is ensured at all times.
Viewing from Many Different Angles
The effects of deregulation programs must be examined from economic, technical, legal, and social perspectives: for example, the commercial prerequisites for market entries must be made as uniform as possible. The regulators must set up detailed technical criteria for the preliminary selection of the providers so that the required communications transmission methods and standards are clearly defined. From a legal viewpoint, for example, the unbundling of the customer connection lines (“last mile”) leads to comprehensive regulatory requirements. In the social sector, finally, the focus is on data protection as well as the possibility of special low rates for the socially disadvantaged.
Wanted: Decisions as Consensus
The deregulation of telecommunications markets must be based on clear political strategies to establish a certain structural order. The goal is a balance between the safeguarding of public interest and the development of open markets encouraging competition. The ICT strategy of a country can choose, for example, between competition among services or among infrastructures. While the rapidly increasing competition in services maximizes benefits for the consumer in the case of open network access, the competition oriented to infrastructure is better at promoting the investments of multiple providers in their network technologies. Moreover, the integration of rural areas requires clear guidelines: while it is true that the strong support given to wireless access manages to create a certain degree of competition here, the provision of telecommunications services with full-area coverage can still not be justified on the basis of economic arguments for certain parts of the country.
Rules of the Game for Players
The technical requirements for the efficient interconnection of networks will soon be in place in most countries. But before they can levy interconnection fees appropriate for the market, regulatory authorities must apply suitable cost models. At the same time, the prices at which mobile network operators grant other operators access to their infrastructures must be set. Another objective related to global competitiveness is the reduction of fees for international calls by means of call-by-call systems or controls on roaming prices. A final focus continues to be on the auctioning, the sale, or the assignment of licenses for mobile network standards in urban and rural regions.
Competition Through Private Investors
A reliable and low-cost telecommunications infrastructure creates good general economic conditions. But private commercial investments are what bring technological advance into play. That is why the commercialization of previously state-owned telephone providers, and regulatory authorities which are as independent as possible, are found at the beginning of most sector reforms. But opening up new market segments such as Internet or mobile services often proves to be simpler than introducing competition in the former business areas of the national telephone companies. Stable, liberalized investment laws provide the prerequisites for the involvement of foreign investors who, as a positive example, introduce more competition and further advances in privatization.
Back
