According to Ovum, in 2014, the wholesale telecom industry will witness a major shift in customer preferences, face risks posed by the increasing conflict between wholesale and enterprise channels, face intense competition with the entry of new players and recognise the structural changes taking place in voice interconnection.
In a report titled, ?Wholesale Telecoms 2014 Trends-to-Watch,? the research firm states that wholesalers will have to leverage these trends by differentiating from or partnering with new entrants, minimising internal channel conflicts, becoming more responsive to customers, and exploring emerging alternative models for voice interconnection. With increasing competition, traditional wholesalers should no longer consider existing revenue streams to be safe. Instead they should actively compete with new entrants, differentiating their offering in terms of service reach, breadth and depth of portfolio, quality, responsiveness, reliability, or customer service. However, established players should also seriously consider partnering with new entrants that have lower costs, greater quality, or other advantage over their own capabilities.
Further, the research forecasts that the conflicts between wholesale and enterprise channels will increase. It expects carriers to continue transforming their standalone wholesale units into lines of business reporting into their enterprise counterparts. In order to reduce enterprise-versus-wholesale channel conflicts, operators should clearly define and strictly enforce customer segmentations, with accounts assigned to one channel or the other. Going forward, customers will expect wholesalers to be more responsive. Providers of wholesale services must realise that intermediaries need to be able to give their customers reliable dates for service availability. Hence, wholesalers must take action to improve systems and processes to speed up the delivery of services and the prediction, diagnosis, and resolution of faults.
In addition, voice interconnection will witness signs of structural change. The year 2014 will see the beginning of changes in pricing regimes for voice interconnection as retail service providers look to reset their voice cost base. However, it is now time for wholesalers to review alternative pricing models and do away with redundant models. Likewise, retailers which operate in dynamic markets should be talking to their wholesale providers to understand their options and plan for a long-term transition to new and sustainable voice models.
