Shop that turn MNOs into CSPs
Software writer Amdocs has created an online Subscription Marketplace that promises to help mobile network operators to sell more comms services. Telcos are not brilliant at selling services so MarketPlace, the latest addition to the Admdocs MarketONE portfolio, aims to help MNOs to be more CSP. The new ‘box office’ application promises to help MNO-cum-CSPs to sell more subscriptions to everything from movies and games to business productivity.
The key to this transformation is to simplify the selling of complex bundles of digital services, said Amdocs. Virgin Media O2 is one of the ‘top tier’ CSPs that have cracked this challenge, says Amdocs. As a triple play (cable/telco/MNO) VMO2 uses this marketplace with pre-integrated top tier partners beyond media, including gaming, business applications and storage to provide ‘in-demand experiences’ for its customers.
Demand for richer experiences is growing, said Amdocs, which claimed that 62% of gamers plan to use popular cloud gaming services like GamePass this year. Its US-based research says 78% would pay at least $10 per month for a combined 5G connection and gaming subscription. Hybrid work and at-home business needs are on the rise too. At the same time, the current subscription landscape is changing.
The stumbling block for CSPs is that subscription fatigue has set in, according to independent expert Guillermo Escofet, Omdia’s principal analyst on entertainment. Worse still, Amazon and Apple are making conditions harder for pureplay providers of paid digital services, said Escofet, so there is a strong case for services from a trustworthy one stop shop of subscription services.
The public are becoming wary of subscriptions shysters. This means anyone who can offer both an easy log in and, more importantly, a simple exit could win and retain customers. That’s where the money is, according to Andrew Davies, CEO of RWG Mobile, a Welsh MVNO that was aims to improve its ARPU through better customer retention. “Operators who hide what they are really offering, or who aren’t upfront about Ts and Cs, tend to be a lot more focused on acquisition of customers rather than retention, perhaps because that is where management and business operations are rewarded,” said Davies.
CSPs need to find new ways to make it easier for consumers and enterprises to manage new offerings, said Anthony Goonetilleke, Amdocs Group President of Technology and Head of Strategy. “Marketplace ensures CSPs are ready for a wide array of experiences consumers and enterprises demand, allowing them to offer new, best-of-breed experiences quickly and easily.”