Regardless of Operators’ Market Situation, OSS Improvement is Key

From new research that Comptel Corporation commissioned, mobile service providers are surprisingly upbeat about their potential in the year ahead. Research found that over half expect mobile operators to be less affected than the wider economy and the majority feel that mobile operators face less of a challenge than service providers in other sectors of the communications industry.

The survey, carried out by the independent research firm Vanson Bourne, polled twenty-five mobile service providers from across the globe on their expectations for the industry’s economic performance, what they saw as key immediate challenges to their networks, and OSS investment intentions in 2009. When compared by region, the research revealed that the Asia-Pacific and Middle East are the most optimistic, with 100 percent of the region’s mobile operators surveyed stating that they saw themselves being affected less severely than the wider economy.

While US mobile operators indicated that they see themselves as facing less of a challenge overall than other SPs, the region was unique in that 67 percent of US mobile operators questioned expect their market to shrink in 2009. European mobile operators in the UK and Germany also saw potential for market shrinkage, although the majority expected the market to remain static.

Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) was still seen as the biggest challenge facing mobile operators in 2009, but reducing the cost of service deployment and delivering more advanced services were seen as the next biggest challenges. A recent study of the same base of mobile operators, conducted by Comptel in August 2008, found that at that time, 41 percent of the operators polled stated their OSS was ‘somewhat’ ready for FMC, and 39 percent admitted to being completely unprepared for FMC.

“The current economic downturn has really forced mobile operators to focus on how OSS can improve their competiveness and efficiency, regardless of their market situation. In emerging markets, the focus is on innovation, diversification, and more rapidly delivering lifestyle services, while in established markets the emphasis is on optimizing processes to improve efficiency and reducing the overall cost of service deployment,” said Arnhild Schia, senior vice president, strategic marketing at Comptel.

The study found that the majority of operators in the emerging markets of the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions would focus mainly on growing the number and diversity of services they offer in 2009, while in the established markets, the focus of operators would be mostly on optimizing processes to improve efficiency. An overwhelming 80 percent of operators worldwide cited revenue assurance processes as the key to addressing these challenges in the year ahead.

“OSS investment is really the key to helping operators improve their agility and their efficiency, while driving their revenue assurance objectives,” continued Schia.

Comptel will be exhibiting at GSMA Mobile World Congress, held February 12-15, 2009, in Barcelona, Spain. Visit Comptel at stand #2E58 for more information on its commissioned research.

About Comptel Corporation

Comptel (OMX Helsinki: CTL1V), the leading vendor of dynamic Operations Support System (OSS) software, offers Comptel Dynamic OSS solutions, enabling telecom service providers to deliver services flexibly and charge them effectively. The firm’s expertise in inventory, provisioning and activation, mediation and charging empowers service providers to focus on delivering innovative services. Comptel has provided solutions to 280 customers with 800 million subscribers in 85 countries. Net sales were EUR 82.4 million (as of today USD $ 106.2 million) in 2007. Comptel was established in 1986 and in year 2008 acquired an UK-based IP fulfillment specialist Axiom Systems. The Group has about 630 employees in 18 countries.

For more information, please visit their website: http://www.comptel.com