How can mobile operators face rising power of social media players?

We are witnessing an era where many mobile operators are applying for loans or requesting banking facilities while undergoing changes in management for not achieving their sales target. According to Mr. Mountasser Hachem, CEO of Monty Mobile, this explains what recent mobile telecom business studies show: Mobile Operators are struggling with Declining Revenues!

The blow-up of the IoT (Internet of Things), Smart Cities and Free WiFi have left mobile operators concerned about how they will manage changes in demand and still make profits. Operators are facing critical decrease in both market share and ARPU (Average Revenue per User) as the consumer behavior is changing briskly.

Moreover, expanded competition from OTT (Over-the-top) providers and social media players like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google and others are causing declines in ARPU for most mobile operators worldwide. These new cloud-based players are offering new personalized services at very attractive packages or at no cost at all. They are also willing to bring innovative services to market and adapt to changing customer behavior much faster than mobile operators, given their agility.

Despite these facts, mobile operators appear to be in denial that the business model has changed.90% of them still prefer to compete using the classical way which depends on data packages or bundles as the main source of revenue, although they should recognize that such a strategy alone does not lead to increased profitability anymore.

And here is the big question: Will mobile operators keep on facing such big losses, or they can still increase their revenue?

“YES they can”, affirms Mr. Hachem. “In fact, mobile operators have hidden treasures, whether in terms of SMS, Value Added Services, Mobile Banking, Credit Services & Finance, Mobile Advertising, or other services. But unfortunately they are not aware of these treasures, or maybe not making use of them in the right way. For example: Social Media players are making billions of dollars using the operators’ networks while Operators are making ZERO!

But what are the operators doing? Nothing!

We believe that Telecom along with Mobile Advertising are the booming business of the future. So we have developed a rich Mobile Advertising portfolio to help operators get their shares of this multibillion-dollar market.”

In Mr. Hachem’s opinion, Operators own reliable customer data and the key to monetize this data is Customer Profiling. However, they are not looking into this yet as a new source of revenue. By understanding their customers’ behavior and applying correct Data Analytics, they can have the most accurate customer profiles that no Social Media player can beat! This way operators will easily offer customized packages to targeted customer segments, on the basis of what these customers need and expect from the brand.

Mr. Hachem also highlights the need for mobile operators to be aware of their central role as network providers through which Social Media services are delivered. Considering this major fact, and in addition to the worldwide decrease in the operators’ Voice, Data and SMS revenue, operators have now become under more pressure to look for innovative services in order to stay alive.

He adds, “Our main mission at Monty Mobile is to increase mobile operators’ awareness on their hidden treasures that can maximize revenues, support and advise them on the right way to invest in such hidden opportunities. We are also ready to invest with them in some cases.”

“It's time for Operators to treat their subscribers as partners”, Mr. Hachem continues, “and the best way to achieve this goal is by offering their subscribers rewarding incentives to encourage their engagement and thus increase the operator’s revenue.”

To that end, Monty Mobile – the leading GSMA Certified SMS Hub, Roaming Broker and VAS provider– has developed an advanced Data Analytics platform, in addition to a wide portfolio of services that cater for every operator’s need to survive the new global market trends.