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VoLTE, WebRTC to Shape Up 2015's Communications,SMS Gets New Lease of Life with 2FA - tyntec

VoLTE, WebRTC to Shape Up 2015's Communications,SMS Gets New Lease of Life with 2FA - tyntec Image Credit: tyntec

By Thorsten Trapp,

Co-Founder & CTO, tyntec.

Drawing from over 12 years of experience as a market leader, tyntec anticipates 2015 to be a transformative year for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Over-the-Top (OTT) players and enterprises as telecommunication and Internet services continue to converge.

tyntec anticipates market forces coupled with the growth of OTT communications services will fuel an industry shift in the form of MNO consolidation, with those remaining MNOs aggressively streamlining costs through VoLTE and pursuing emerging partnership opportunities. Making tyntec’s list for the second year in a row is, online security and WebRTC adoption. Enterprises will integrate phone numbers as unique identifiers for their employees aided by the interoperability and seamless communication provided by WebRTC and APIs for telecommunication services. Online security will also top the list of enterprise priorities in 2015, on the heels of record high security breaches and the toll it has taken on the reputation of brands over the last 12 months. tyntec anticipates the majority of brands will make SMS-based two-factor authentication mandatory for users to help prevent further security hacks.

“2014 was an inspired year for mobile. We saw some disastrous security breaches, record funding and valuations of OTT service providers, and development of newer communication technologies, all seemingly at the expense of operators,” said Thorsten Trapp, Co-founder and CTO of tyntec. “In 2015, we’ll see more telecom-web convergence initiatives as mobile operators focus on regaining their footing. While they’re still under heavy financial pressure and face some fierce competition from OTT players, we’re already seeing MNOs actively exploring growth strategies aimed at monetizing OTT services.”

#1: MNOS WILL FIND LIMITED OPPORTUNITY WITH THE IOT

The ubiquity of mobile communications is fueling new growth opportunities into this not-so-new concept of linking devices to facilitate machine-to-machine communication (M2M). But while the IoT has sparked growth strategies for MNOs, high infrastructure cost and low average revenue per unit (ARPU) is proving to a significant barrier. Regardless, some operators are still driven to make a business case for it. Only the ones who can take advantage of external, specialized platforms optimized for the IoT economy of scale will be able to turn IoT into a revenue-generating machine.

#2: OPERATORS WILL SPEARHEAD A VOLTE TRANSITION.

As subscribers consume more and more data, it’s starting to make a lot of business sense for carriers to offload voice traffic onto data networks, which have historically been kept separate as a result of legacy infrastructure. More and more, operators are building out their LTE networks and moving from classical telephony to pure SIP (VoIP) – a significant paradigm shift. The switch is not only proving more cost effective, but it also puts MNOs on a level playing field with OTT apps and mobile VoIP services in terms of cost and quality of service. In 2015, we will see a broader VoLTE rollout as MNOs continue offloading voice traffic to newly built-out LTE networks. However, it will be accompanied by some headline-worthy incidents of outages along the way as the carriers struggle to cope with the increasing system requirements caused by ever-growing bandwidth demands.

Thorsten Trapp,
Co-Founder and CTO,
tyntec

#3: WEBRTC AND APIS FOR TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES WILL PUT PHONE NUMBERS IN THE ENTERPRISE SPOTLIGHT

WebRTC has been adopted as predicted last year and will form the base of many established communication solutions. At the same time, new APIs for telecommunication services are making interoperability easier as more and more communication services move to the Cloud. With many businesses still relying on legacy services in the office, it’s getting easier to use the phone number as a unique identifier, especially if enhanced by easy nomadic use which makes SMS services more attractive. WebRTC, coupled with easy-to-use APIs for telecommunication services, will make the businesses embrace the idea of using phone numbers as unique identifiers to provide seamless communications in and out of the office.

#4: 2015 WILL SEE AN UPTICK IN MNO CONSOLIDATION

While IoT has sparked some growth opportunities, MNOs will still feel pressure throughout 2015 as market forces continue closing in. With traffic and revenue from traditional telco services continuing to decline, smaller MNOs will look to get acquired by larger players as a result of increased OTT adoption and declining ARPU. Those MNOs who are able to weather the storm will be forced to shift their strategies from multi-local to central. Additionally, more telcos will seek out partnerships in an effort to monetize OTT services.

#5: 5. BRANDS WILL MAKE TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION MANDATORY

Due to its trifecta of advantages: cost effective, user friendly and high quality security, adoption of SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) will see a significant surge in 2015 in response to major consumer demand for increased online security. Given its expansive reach – most of the world has access to SMS – companies will figure out implementation and make SMS-based 2FA work for their users. Especially as more Cloud technologies emerge, consumers will start seeing more and more brands make two-factor authentication mandatory on their sites in an effort to thwart further hacks and protect user identities.

About The Author:
Thorsten Trapp is the Co-Founder and CTO of tyntec. He is a highly regarded mobile industry expert with over 20 years’ experience in the space.

 

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