Why do we even need to use fixed connectivity anymore? Its been an interesting topic since the launch of 4G and the mammoth speeds that are available over the LTE networks. Add in the ever present need to connect on the move, not only as people, but our things are starting to demand something similar.
It is clear that there are two major areas of growth in the international telecoms space. The demand for data as we all know is ever increasing, however the number of connected devices are also in the ascendency. Cisco, Gartner and Beecham all tell a similar story – many billion devices connected in the next 5 years with an equally exponential increase in the amount of data. Some excellent examples like SMART Agriculture, Connected Cities and the improvement in supply chain management are already being delivered.
How does the channel firstly, understand the growth and secondly, capitalize on it? My thoughts are that the commercial model as well as the move to adopting mobile data in the traditional telecoms delivery is key. Most areas within the reseller community are selling data of some sorts and its this current understanding that will support the growth of mobile data into our traditional delivery methods. By partnering with a mobile data supplier that allows the resellers to simply deliver existing services but with a 3G or 4G SIM, will allow for a natural growth in new ways of delivering existing products.
Secondly the commercial structures are different and need to be understood. The commercials are driven by volume in data and SIMs, as with most data pricing models, and the way to maintain a margin across the board is to allow for this to flow through correctly. If the customer only needs a small amount of data across its SIMs then it should be expected that the cost per SIM is higher than if a customer wants a larger volume of data.
Dan Cunliffe – Keen interest in mobile data for the channel
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