Project Report from the year 2014 in the subject Communications -
Multimedia, Internet, New Technologies, language: English, abstract:
Thanks to the advances in telecommunications and mobile computing,
smartphones have emerged as a vital tool for enhanced communication,
connectivity and productivity. With the increased penetration of
smartphones and mobile applications, Over-The-Top (OTT) mobile messaging
applications now constitute a significant threat to mobile network
operators' SMS-messaging revenues. The literature available today shows
that OTT applications like WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Chat, Skype, etc
will cost $54 billion lost in revenue to mobile network operators. As a
result, it becomes critical for mobile network operators to put in place
effective strategies that will slow the impact of OTT apps. This
research investigates the pro-active measures that mobile operators have
taken in developing countries to address this challenge and also
measures the effectiveness of these measures in their respective
markets. Data was collected through questionnaires from over 400
pre-paid subscribers in Accra. The findings of the research show that
OTT apps are changing the behaviour of smartphone users regarding text
messaging. The research revealed that more than half smartphone users
send less than 5 SMS messages a day. However, with the introduction of
"bundles" by mobile operators in Ghana as a strategy to generate a
sustainable average revenue per user seems to be working. Majority of
subscribers perceive data bundle as a cheaper and better option than
Pay-As-You- Go. However, the introduction of SMS bundle seems not to be
an efficient strategy against OTT apps since they are limited to on-net
communications only.
