Competition is fierce as operators look to sign up consumers to their new superfast 4G networks and make a return on their spectrum auction investment. A reason for this is that operators aren’t offering consumers anything beyond commodity services, such as 4G roaming bundles.

Competition is fierce as operators look to sign up consumers to their new superfast 4G networks and make a return on their spectrum auction investment. A reason for this is that operators aren’t offering consumers anything beyond commodity services, such as 4G roaming bundles. However, these offers normally have a limited shelf-life, and are easily replicated by other operators.

In order to compete effectively in the marketplace, operators need to offer consumers something new, something they value, and something unique to, and owned by, the operator’s brand. Internet brands, such as Google, already take this approach to add value for its users so they keep coming back.  Operators must replicate this model and routinely offer customers new services, which will add value and strengthen customer loyalty to their 4G networks.

Operators need to get off the fence and decide how they are going to differentiate in this extremely competitive 4G market. Do they focus on the access bit pipe model and rely on other service providers to drive usage and network traffic?  Or are they going to rebuild on their heritage and deliver communication services that add value for the end user? If it’s going to be the latter, they need to start innovating and they need to do it fast.

Mark Windle, Head of Marketing at OpenCloud