Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO Telekom Austria Group, has said that operators will take steps against over the top players if they start to infringe on operators’ core revenues.
“If you are an operator and you bring Google to your customer and then Google brings Google Voice to this customer, if you are entering the area of over the top players touching the core business of operators, then this will generate conflict and we will take steps against that. That’s just logic,” Ametsreiter said.
Although Ametsreiter said Apple should be “honoured” for what they have achieved in the industry in being the first company to deliver true multimedia experiences, he wants to keep Apple and other players, such as Google, away from his core revenues.
“If they are entering the core business then it’s a conflict. They are still a partner, but if they start intermediating in the billing relationship, our core service, then this will generate conflict. If we lost those revenues then we will not be able to invest any more. But it doesn’t mean they won’t do it.”
Ametsreiter said that the mobile data boom had meant that operators now have to deal in “yield management”. A Blackberry produces 2-3Mb of data per month per customer, he said, yet is offered at relatively high tariffs. Meanwhile a data stick user generates 1Gb per month per user.
“The good thing is that spectrum is finite and precious. On the other hand users are not willing to pay for it,” he said. “We are still seeing falling prices.” Although there’s no easy answer to this conundrum, operators need to manage this at different pricing points, he said. The role of a converged network, using WiFi offload, will also be crucial.
With prices reducing, there will inevitably be consolidation in the industry, the Telekom Austria CEO said, giving opportunity for other operators to benefit. “If there are any opportunities we have to look at it,” he said.
Despite these gripes, there was a contradictory message, emphasising the positive.
“In Bulgaria we have 52% EBITDA. I don’t know why everyone is so negative,” he said. He added that in Austria alone there was plenty of room for growth in M2M, tablet sales and broadband connections.