Telecoms in 2015 can be summed up in the following words and acronyms: blockbuster, data privacy, reviving traditional revenue streams and SDN.
First up: blockbuster. OTEGLOBE’s CEO Dino Andrea has used this term to describe the AAE-1 subsea cable, and the impending arrival of this project and the equally ambitious SEA-ME-WE5 are ushering in a new era of multi-terrabit, multi-continent cable systems.
Data privacy has been gaining greater attention and media coverage in 2015. The biggest news on this front was the EU announcing that it would be tightening up its data protections laws – which already are some of the toughest in existence. There has also been a plethora of domestic legislation developments to monitor, with the likes of Russia and Indonesia exploring data localisation laws aimed at ensuring the personal data of its citizens is stored domestically. This all has the potential to create a murky and unforgiving regulatory environment for operators in 2016.
SMS and voice revenues continued to make a comeback this year. The former has been revitalised by a booming application to person (A2P) market, while the advent of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) has brought new hope to the latter. Such is the retro mobile services revival that even pay-as-you-go SIM cards are back in fashion.
Finally the biggest buzz this year has been around software defined networking (SDN). After years of hype, 2015 will be looked back on as the breakthrough year for commercial SDN deployments. Many of the biggest names in the business are pushing ahead with ambitious SDN strategies, with further announcements expected in 2016. It looks set to be another captivating year in wholesale.
