Battle for digital customer ownership between the Telcos and Over-the-Top (OTT) players: Emerging markets perspective

Abstract

Today’s Telcos are confronted with digital evolution and innovation that are forcing them to rethink their traditional business models. In many domains, the global Over-the-Top (OTT) players have established scales across their business models, thereby putting enormous pressure on the Telcos. This paper proposes a framework for the major stakeholders within the Telco space to manage the excesses and threats that are posed by the global OTT players upon the industry. Using a deep packet inspection (DPI) through the service control gateway (SCG) of an emerging mobile operator, the study quantifies the significance of the threat and the penetration of the OTT providers within the Telco landscape. From an emerging market perspective, a comprehensive framework that can protect Telco investments and the host economies from the global OTT players is provided.

Keywords:

• telecommunication
• OTT player
• digital consumer
• mobile services
• regulatory body

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the University of Pecs under the Higher Education Institution Excellence Program of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology in Hungary within the framework of the 4th Thematic Program – ‘Enhancing the Role of Domestic Companies in the Re-industrialization of Hungary.’

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.