Alexandre Pébereau, Chairman, ITW Founders’ Council, today issued the following statement at the conclusion of the 2014 ITW meeting:
“Following this year’s successful ITW, which saw more meetings and partnerships forged than ever before, there are several key messages which convey the spirit of business development and opportunity which is seen brought to life at ITW.”
Carrying more, connecting the unconnected
The carrier industry is part of a dynamic ecosystem that is constantly reshaping and renewing itself. The challenges for growth are multiplying and diversifying. We exist in an extremely competitive marketplace, which is highly regulated in many parts of the world, particularly in established regional markets. We have a responsibility to drive successful future communications.
Substantial increases in traffic are generated by new players in the OTT sector, in areas such as video. So we are seeing yet more demand for capacity from companies with new or completely different business models to adapt to and serve.
With almost 7 billion SIMs in the world today, it is easy to forget that an estimated 3.5 billion people do not yet have a mobile phone. We must work towards connecting the unconnected.
Internet of things: more value than volume
We are seeing the dawn of the Internet of Things (IoT), connecting people, devices and machines. A new era is upon us and this era will drive the next wave of global innovation in all areas of business and society. It will be a fully connected, brand-new world of Machine-to-Machine (M2M), way beyond traditional boundaries.
Moreover, there is an increasing need for improved security, expertise and agility in traffic management and if we are to evolve towards an IoT world, we must move towards all-IP. The need to rethink future network design for bigger and better networks has become vital.
Our future connected world-village will demand access to higher-speed internet, which has become and will continue to be an essential part of our lives.
How should carriers respond?
Carriers must be able to accommodate the exploding growth in traffic, as well as the additional services. We must rethink business models to ensure our investments are still worth making within our expanding industry. We have to deliver sustainability, robustness, quality and reach for network-based demands.
We’ll need our innovation drive to supply them. Innovation for us is an ecosystem that encompasses technology, the customer, the market and the business model. It’s an ongoing process, responding to specific local needs.
The future of the wholesale industry will see increased network sharing in both developed and emerging markets. Changes to our new ecosystem and to the industry dynamics must continually be taken into account to facilitate strategies that encourage and drive growth. To succeed in embracing future challenges, carriers must continue to collaborate with each other.
We, as the carrier industry, supply the “veins” of this new world. With our strengths – reach, interconnections, ability to collaborate beyond all frontiers – I fully trust our industry will stay globally healthy and move forward brilliantly.
About ITW
International Telecoms Week (ITW) is the meeting point for the global wholesale telecommunications community, at which attendees from across the globe meet to buy and sell both voice and data products and services, the event takes place in the USA and is attended by 6,000 participants from more than 150 countries.
www.internationaltelecomsweek.com
