Last week, International Telecoms Week (ITW) was held in sunny Atlanta for the first time after being in Chicago in previous years. But that wasn’t the only change; it was clear for all those in attendance that the real paradigm shift occurred within the walls of the Hyatt Regency.
Here are three noticeable ways telecoms have changed in 2019, as seen at ITW:
Shift from Voice to Data
In 2020, projections indicate around 40% of telecom revenue will come from the digital side. Data usage is more prevalent than ever as users abandon phone calls in favor of Skype and WhatsApp. The SMS hall at ITW was still the largest, but the buzz towards digital could not be louder. Also, as users stream more videos in 2019 from their mobile phones than ever before, the demand for nonlinear media has skyrocketed. As Steven Chen, Co-founder of YouTube, stated in his keynote address, "the average number of mobile YouTube video views per day is 1,000,000,000."
The shift to data is not the only change as traditional offerings, voice and text, have also begun to innovate. While P2P (peer-to-peer) SMS has declined in popularity, A2P (application-to-person) SMS market is booming, which is due to the proliferation of services such as one-time passwords, instant alerts, virtual assistant notifications, and other time-sensitive messages.
Market analysts suggest that A2P SMS is expected to grow by 4.2% annually, 87 billion USD by 2025.
Increasing Partnerships with Wi-Fi Hardware Companies
“Who thinks about Wi-Fi?” you might ask.
With the ever-growing demand for digital service, telecoms are being forced to become more agile and customer-centralized – insert Wi-Fi hardware. Technological advancement in Wi-Fi hardware has become the new norm. Fast, reliable, and accessible wireless connections across a multitude of devices is a must in today’s world.
Back to Mr. Chen’s opening address, “a mind-blowing 300 videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute.” Homes, offices, restaurants, cafés, libraries, you name it, need to keep up with much more than just an influx of YouTube views. Hardware companies are popping up all over the world with better and better technology to meet the growing demand for fast, reliable hardware.
More Focus on Smart Homes – MESH Wi-Fi
To take it one step further, telecom companies are not only partnering with Wi-Fi hardware manufactures, they are specifically eyeing the MESH Wi-Fi hardware space.
Today, the average home has more than 11 devices connected at any given time, and this number is growing. Single router Wi-Fi configurations are a way of the past. MESH Wi-Fi systems offer multiple access points and modularity for customization to avoid dead zones and unreliable connectivity.
Mercku envisions IoT-enabled homes that can think and make decisions for consumers and has developed products to achieve just that – home automation and connection through a MESH Wi-Fi network. Reaching speeds that are twice the industry average, our M2 Hive is the world's most powerful MESH Wi-Fi system.
We're always interested in finding new partners who share our vision that the Smart Home of the future should be elegant, affordable, and easy to set-up – and that it’s time to start building it right now. If you’re interested in connecting to Mercku’s partnership team send us an email at contact@mercku.com or fill out the form here.