THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

The digital economy

What it is, why it matters, and how to succeed

OCTOBER 2014
www.analysysmason.com

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THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

CONTENTS

02

What is the digital economy and why is it important?

p03

 nalysys Masons Digital Economy Readiness Index reveals regional

A
opportunities in key verticals

p07

Fostering and deploying innovation from pre-existing telco assets and startups: Vodafone xone

p10

 good first response to the OTT threat is to gain an understanding of current

A
and future competitors, such as Tencent and WhatsApp

p13

Software is the key to digital economy services and operations

p16

Analysys Mason covers the digital economy in five research programmes

p17

About the authors

p18

About analysys mason

p19

Analysys Mason Limited 2014

THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

1.WHAT IS THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
The digital economy is all socioeconomic activity mediated by software
and enabled by telecoms infrastructure.

Some digital economy goods and services are

intrinsically digital, such as online e-books,
streaming music or films, or computing services.
Other digital economy goods and services are
substitutes for existing equipment and services,
such as virtualised PBXs for local phone systems,
security services, or virtual private communications
networks. Yet others involve the delivery of physical
goods to consumers, but marketing and sales are
done by digital means. Amazon is the main pioneer
in this area.
Nearly all businesses will need to become digital
economy participants, whether they provide online
digital services, digital substitutes for traditional
goods and services, or physical goods marketed
and sold by digital means.
Becoming a true digital economy player requires a
level of business transformation and, for telecoms
operators, a change in mindset. Therefore,

Analysys Mason is assessing the size of digital

economy opportunities in emerging verticals, such
as mobile financial services, mobile commerce,
mobile health, mobile education, mobile
advertising and smart homes.
The value chain and business models in the digital
economy are not yet established in all cases.
Identifying the value-chain roles, and corresponding
business models, of key players and competitors
is vital for Internet players (for example, Facebook
and Google), vendors (such as Apple and Samsung),
developers, content players and operators.
It is also vital to understand the competitive
landscape of the digital economy. For this
reason, our Digital Economy research programme
comprehensively tracks the latest market
developments, and provides best-practice case
studies of the shifting roles of operators and their
competitors worldwide.

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THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

1.1 The central issue: telecoms, media and technology (TMT) players will
need to look for growth outside their core competencies

The pressure to capitalise on new opportunities in

the digital economy has become more intense for
operators worldwide, as revenue from core services,
apart from data, is facing stagnation or decline
(see Figure 1). A primary driver of this challenging
competitive landscape is the emergence of IP-based
OTT services provided by players of all sizes from
Internet giants to small, agile start-ups.
In contrast, the revenue growth of digital economy
players such as Amazon, Facebook and Google
albeit from a much lower base than that of core
telecoms services is not easily dismissible. At the
end of 2012, revenue from digital economy players
was around 10% of that of telecoms players, but
was growing five times faster. Therefore, operators
worldwide are actively exploring ways to defend
against the competitive threats of digital economy

players, while capitalising on their strengths

and network infrastructure to become a moreintegrated part of the digital economy and the
associated growth opportunity.
In addition to the competitive challenges emanating
from outside of their organisations, accomplishing
innovation in the digital economy is difficult for
operators because it requires a very different
organisational structure and mentality. This makes it
particularly challenging to execute innovative ventures
at the heart of a traditional Telco organisation
within the very rapid time-frames that Internet
players or agile start-ups can deliver. For this
reason, operators must continue to explore different
avenues that complement their sporadic venture
capital investments or acquisitions in order to foster
innovation in parallel to their traditional operations.

2000
1800

REVENUE (USD BILLION)

1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Mobile voice

Fixed voice and narrowband

Mobile messaging

Fixed broadband and IPTV

Mobile handset data

Business network services

Mobile broadband

Total service revenue (retail and wholesale)

2018

Mobile M2M

pFIGURE 1: Telecoms service revenue (retail and wholesale), worldwide, 20092018 [Source: Analysys
Mason, 2014

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THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

1.2 Telecoms operators have key advantages that they can use to enter
the digital economy ecosystem

Telecoms operators (and/or communications

service providers (CSPs)) have several distinct
advantages and core competencies that enable

them to enter the digital economy via organic or

inorganic means (see Figure 2).

DEEP POCKETS
nC
 SPs are expert at
capital procurement
and management

ESTABLISHED BILLING
RELATIONSHIPS

LARGE AMOUNTS OF
BEHAVIOURAL DATA
n Knowledge of who
customers call and when
nW
 hen customers access
the Internet and what they
visit (subject to privacy
laws, in some cases)

CSPS
ROLE
IN THE
DIGITAL
ECONOMY

nC
 ustomers are
conditioned to send
money to CSPs every
month
nK
 nowledge of credit
history

nP
 resence and activity

ESTABLISHED CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIPS
nW
 ireline CSPs have deep
relationships with their customers,
mobile operators somewhat less due
to the disintermediation by handset
manufacturers
nE
 xcellent brand recognition
nE
 stablished, ongoing contact with
customers via bills and marketing
messages
nK
 nowledge of the offers that have
been accepted - or rejected - by the
consumers
nK
 nowledge of residences, family
units and, in many cases, dwelling
locations as well as personal location

HIGH-TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS
nE
 xperts at running high-technology
operations with skilled technicians
nD
 istributed, mobile workforces and
knowledge of how to equip and manage
them
nM
 any BSS and OSS systems in place as
well as knowledge of how to plan, specify,
procure, implement and use sophisticated
software
nH
 ave data centres with high-reliability
systems and the people to plan and run
them
nH
 ave knowledge of how to provide and
support a wide number of high-technology
services to customers and businesses

pFIGURE 2: Key advantages of CSPs in the digital economy [Source: Analysys Mason, 2014]

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1.3 Cutting through the hype around the digital economy: size it,
understand it, evaluate the business models

Aspects of the digital economy could be

characterised by inflated expectations, unrealistic
business cases, oversimplified go-to-market
strategies, ill-managed resources and inefficient
partnerships. Many start-ups have failed to capture
the opportunities that the digital economy has
to offer for those reasons. However, such pitfalls
and failures can be assessed, understood, and
circumnavigated, and larger, more established
players from adjacent segments can learn to use
their scale as an advantage to avoid similar fates.
Furthermore, many companies, including the
most successful ones, are facing the pressures of
convergence and competition in their core markets.
This increases the need for them to assess
opportunities in adjacent verticals.

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Analysys Mason can help current and prospective

stakeholders in the digital economy to answer the
following four key strategic questions.
n How wide a spread of verticals to operate in?
n How high up the value chain to move?
n How far to extend geographically?
n How to deliver the capability?
The following articles demonstrate elements of
Analysys Masons comprehensive digital economy
research coverage and touch upon some of the
questions raised above.

THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

2. ANALYSYS MASONS DIGITAL

ECONOMY READINESS
INDEX REVEALS REGIONAL
OPPORTUNITIES IN KEY VERTICALS
AsiaPacific (APAC) and the Middle East and
Africa (MEA) are two of the most fertile regions for
digital economy deployments. Data from Analysys
Masons Digital Economy Readiness Index (DERI)
(www.analysysmason.com/deri-data-2014) a
compilation of more than 340 digital economy
initiatives by 32 of the largest operators worldwide in
terms of mobile revenue reveals a divide between

these two regions, as well as potential opportunities

for operators and vendors.
Each initiative in the DERI receives a readiness
score assessed across two distinct axes: the scale
or type of an initiative which indicates its size and
reach and its maturity, which indicates its position
in the lifecycle of a digital economy initiative.

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2.1 APAC and MEA have distinct digital economy profiles

Data from the DERI enables a top-level view of

each regions digital economy profile, and the key
verticals in each of them. 1
n The MEA region has a high number of mobile
health deployments. A third of the initiatives
that we tracked in MEA were related to mobile
health, making this the vertical with the largest
number of deployments in the region. In contrast,
mobile health represented 18% of initiatives in
APAC. The relatively high level of activity in mobile
financial service initiatives in APAC indicates that
innovation may also be happening with smaller,
local operators and not only the largest players.

n Mobile education is important in both regions. 46%

of all mobile education initiatives tracked in the DERI
were observed in the APAC region. However, MEA
leads in terms of average readiness score. Education
is perceived as a key social mobility enabler in these
markets and can be effectively monetised directly
(subscription services), or indirectly (churn prevention).
nA
 PAC dominates MEA in terms of the number of
cloud-based services initiatives. 2 This is stimulated
by smartphone penetration Analysys Mason
expects smartphone penetration as a proportion of
total active handset connections in APAC to reach
34% by the end of 2014, while it will be 16% in MEA.

1. See Analysys Masons Digital Economy Readiness Index: mapping telco innovation and digital strategies. Available at www.analysysmason.com/deri-2014.
2. The cloud-based services category in the DERI also includes OTT services, mobile content, big data and software-related initiatives such as APIs.

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THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

2.2 The DERI assesses digital economy initiatives on more than just
numbers of deployments

Operators in MEA, such as Mobile Telephone

Networks (MTN), Ooredoo, Orange and Saudi Telecom,
have deployed fewer mobile health and cloud-based
service initiatives than operators in APAC, such as NTT
Docomo and SoftBank. However, the initiatives in MEA
receive higher readiness scores on average.
In MEA, mobile education and mobile financial
services are the two most successful verticals in
terms of average readiness score (see Figure 3). MEA
commands the highest scores for mobile financial
services worldwide, followed by APAC. In the former,
Vodafones M-Pesa, MTN Mobile Money and Orange
Money are best-practice examples of product
market fit. APACs deployments have been driven by
the success of contactless and mobile-only payments,
and money solutions. Nevertheless, average readiness
scores for mobile financial services are slightly lower
in APAC than in MEA, because the most successful
initiatives are often limited to Japan or South Korea,
which are not representative of the whole region.
Opportunities exist in verticals that have a high
average readiness score and a small number of
deployed initiatives. In APAC, smart homes, mobile
education and mobile agriculture are potential

growth verticals for mobile operators. In MEA,

opportunities exist in mobile education, mobile
financial services and mobile health.
Analysys Masons Digital Economy Readiness Index
(DERI) presents a view of operators ability to
capitalise on emerging digital economy verticals,
quantifying the readiness of their initiatives in:
n mobile financial services
n mobile health
nm
 obile commerce and advertising (including
location-based services)
n mobile education
n c loud-based services (including OTT, mobile
content, big data, and software)
n mobile agriculture
n smart homes
n v enture capital or start-up incubator/accelerator
programmes.
The DERI integrates data from each deployment across
a number of categories, including vertical, scale,
maturity, target customer segment, countries and
regions. Each initiative in the DERI receives a readiness
score using Analysys Masons proprietary methodology.

50
45

Mobile education

AVERAGE READNESS SCORE

40
35

Mobile financial services

30

Smart homes

25

Venture capital - accelerator

Mobile financial
services

20

Mobile education
Mobile agriculture

15

Cloud-based
services

Mobile health

10
5
0

Cloud-based
services
Mobile commerce
and advertising
Mobile health

Smart homes
Venture capital - accelerator
Mobile agriculture

10

15
NUMBER OF INITIATIVES

20

25

30

ASIA-PACIFIC
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

pFIGURE 3: Number of digital economy initiatives and average readiness score by vertical, AsiaPacific
and Middle East and Africa [Source: Analysys Mason, 2014]
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3. FOSTERING AND DEPLOYING

INNOVATION FROM PRE-EXISTING
TELCO ASSETS AND START-UPS:
VODAFONE XONE
3. 1 The xone venture and incubation centres are Vodafone Groups
innovation initiative
Xone is the innovation brand for consumer-oriented
products developed either by the start-ups that have
gone through its acceleration programme, or by
Vodafones R&D teams.

nO
 pen to companies at all development stages.
From teams with merely an idea (pre-prototype,
pre-incorporation), to mature companies that have
already received millions of dollars in funding.

Vodafones goals for xone are to:

nT
 ailor-made involvement. xones engagement with
start-ups, financial or otherwise, is determined on a
case-by-case basis. For this reason, it does not have
standard legal templates or funding term sheets.

n accelerate promising technology companies

n integrate these companies products into
Vodafones markets worldwide
n t est and commercially launch innovations
developed by Vodafones R&D division
nb
 uild the next set of ecosystem vendors around
Vodafone.
A number of characteristics set xone apart from
other incubator or accelerator initiatives led by
mobile operators.

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nx
 one-branded products. Products developed by the
start-ups may be deployed in test markets within
Vodafones geographical footprint under the xone brand.
nK
 PIs. Success is measured by start-ups
launching through scaled commercial
agreements with Vodafone (as xone or Vodafonebranded products), or independently.

THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

3.2 xone has supported more than 40 companies in three innovation

hubs across the world
Participating companies receive funding from
Vodafone Ventures, the companys strategic
corporate venture capital arm, or working capital
and resources that, depending on the companys
needs and development stage, can include:
nb
 usiness and financial guidance
np
 roof-of-concept assistance
no
 ffice or work space
nm
 arketing advice
ne
 ngineering support (in what Vodafone calls nonrecurring engineering)
nu
 ser trials in Vodafone markets through its OpCos.
xone was initially set up under Vodafone Group R&D
in Silicon Valley, primarily to be near innovative
start-ups in the area, and to leverage the potential
synergies with Verizon.
However, after the reorganisation of Vodafones
Global Technology division in September 2013, the
Verizon divestment in late 2013, and the departure
of key US-based executives, xone is now a part of
Consumer Products and Services and the Group
R&D role has moved to Strategy and Operations.

Vendor-centric
2011

xones initial goal of accelerating technology

companies to create a vendor ecosystem
around Vodafone was met with some criticism
for being too vendor-centric, at a time when
opportunities in consumer-oriented digital
economy were being exploited by Internet giants
and other start-up accelerators.
The vendor-centric approach eventually evolved to
accommodate a wider set of companies in verticals
not directly related to Vodafones core activities (for
example, healthcare technology and robotics) (see
Figure 4).
Nevertheless, xone refocused and was
restructured following a confluence of factors
during 2H 2013. This transition culminated in the
decision to relocate the main innovation hub from
Silicon Valley to London, announced in June 2014.
The focus is now on xone-branded products to
be tested and deployed in Vodafones European
markets, with xone moving beyond the role of a
mere start-up accelerator to becoming more of an
innovation R&D hub.

Expansion into
unrelated verticals

2012

Re-focus on xonebranded products

2013

2014

pFIGURE 4: Evolution of xones strategy [Source: Analysys Mason, 2014]

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THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

3.3 xones selection process favours companies that can scale quickly
with Vodafones support

Around 3% of the start-ups that apply are accepted

into the Vodafone xone accelerator. In order to be
accepted, companies must:
nb
 ring value to Vodafone in terms of
infrastructure, services or expected return on
investment (ROI) at exit
nh
 ave a clear path to market that takes advantage
of Vodafones services, infrastructure, distribution
channels or customer support operations.
The teams, companies and the terms under which
Vodafone supports them, vary greatly.

Co-build
with xones
infrastructure,
capital, and partners

nM
 aturer companies receive investment from
Vodafone Ventures.
nE
 arly stage start-ups receive small amounts of
operational capital made directly via xone. Support
is also given in-kind by other xone partners.
xones path-to-market process involves helping
start-ups build their product and test it with xoners
that is, Vodafone employees or customers who have
signed up to beta test xones products. Depending on
the beta-test results, products are gradually scaled
to an increasing number of markets, or go back to
the co-build stage (see Figure 5).

Beta-test
with help from
xoners (voluntary
beta testers) in key
markets

Scale
Across markets and
distribution channels

pFIGURE 5: Overview of xones path-to-market process [Source: Analysys Mason, 2014]

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THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

4. A GOOD FIRST RESPONSE TO

THE OTT THREAT IS TO GAIN AN
UNDERSTANDING OF CURRENT
AND FUTURE COMPETITORS, SUCH
AS TENCENT AND WHATSAPP
Analysys Mason has analysed the smartphone
usage of consumers in France, Germany, the
UK and the USA. The analysis is based on
data provided by Nielsen, using an application
developed by Arbitron Mobile between midAugust and the end of October 2013.3 This
event-level data allows us to produce in-depth

analysis of information including foreground

app usage (face time), data traffic (cellular and
Wi-Fi), location (home, away and travelling), as
well as voice and SMS usage. Specifically, we set
out to understand the use of IP communications
services and their relationship with traditional
voice and messaging services.

4.1 IP messaging services rival social networking services in terms of

penetration and engagement
Take-up of WhatsApp Messenger is high in Europe,
particularly in Germany, where 90% of our panellists
used it, the Netherlands and Spain. The UK
messaging market is on the same trajectory.
IP messaging services are rivalling social
networking services in terms of penetration in some
countries. For example, IP messaging services
were used by 95% of panellists in Germany, and
80% in the UK. In both countries, penetration of IP
messaging services is relatively high across age
groups, reflecting their mass-market appeal as
alternative messaging services.
A major reason for the high levels of commercial
interest in the messaging sector is the level of
engagement among users of the apps. The leading
messaging app, WhatsApp Messenger, has a very
high daily average usage (18.3 minutes), higher
than Facebooks industry benchmark (an average
of 18.1 minutes per day among our panellists and
a penetration of 78% of panellists). As a matter of
fact, user engagement has become one of the most
important metrics used to quantify success in the

digital economy, and it is one of the primary reasons

why Facebook acquired WhatsApp for a remarkable
USD19 billion in stock and cash in February 2014.
Social messenger apps, such as KakaoTalk,
Line and WeChat, also show high levels of daily
usage, despite low penetration rates. These
services combine communication features
such as group chat and picture sharing with
features often associated with social networking
platforms, such as timelines and shared gaming.
The providers of these services have aggressive
expansion plans and significant marketing spend
behind them. They may yet displace WhatsApp in
some Western markets.
WhatsApp also demonstrates its potential for
very frequent usage, further enhancing its appeal
as a platform: we were able to measure the
percentage of app users who were daily users
during our observation period. In Germany, 90%
of our panellists used WhatsApp and 82% of them
accessed the service on a daily basis. The service is
clearly embedded in peoples everyday lives.

3. See Analysys Masons Consumer smartphone usage 2014: OTT communication services. Available at www.analysysmason.com/CSU-OTT-2014.

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4.2 OTT players in Asia are posing a potential competitive threat in areas
other than messaging
In China, Tencent is the leading one-stop shop
online destination, having gained substantial scale
across a range of activities. As of March 2014, it had
868 million monthly active users (MAUs) for its QQ
IM service, 644 million MAUs for its Qzone social
network, 396 million MAUs for its Weixin (WeChat)
OTT communications services, as well as 6.9 million
average concurrent users for its advanced casual
games (see Figure 6).
Tencent is an Internet giant in China, but is littleknown in the rest of the world. However, it has
started targeting overseas markets, primarily by
launching WeChat (the international version of

Weixin), which had 100 million registered users

in August 2013. Tencents recent revenue growth
is partly driven by overseas expansion Tencent
did not generate any international revenue in
2010, but 7.4% of its total revenue was generated
abroad in 2013. Tencent will be able to capitalise
on the approximately 50 million overseas Chinese
to establish a beachhead abroad, but Analysys
Mason believes that it will be difficult for Tencent
to enter the mainstream as a truly worldwide
player, because of Tencents relatively weak
position abroad compared with well-established
competitors, such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook
and Google.

900
800

USERS (MILLION)

700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
MAR
2010

JUN
2010

SEP
2010

DEC
2010

MAR
2011

JUN
2011

SEP
2011

DEC
2011

MAR
2012

JUN
2012

SEP
2012

DEC
2012

MAR
2013

JUN
2013

SEP
2013

DEC
2013

QQ
WEIXIN AND WECHAT
QZONE
FEE-BASED VALUE-ADDED SERVICE

pFIGURE 6: Tencent user base by service, March 2010 to March 2013 [Source: Analysys Mason, 2014]

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2014

THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

4.3 Tencent uses a freemium business model to attract users that are
then monetised through its diverse range of activities
The launch of Weixin and WeChat has enabled
Tencent to gain a solid foothold among mobile
subscribers, accelerating the companys
transition from PC-based to mobile Internet
services. WeChat is one of Tencents major
growth drivers, as Internet usage shifts from
the PC to mobile devices. According the stateaffiliated research organisation China Internet
Network Information Center (CNNIC), 81% of
all people who go online in China do so via a
mobile device, while 73% of new Internet users
in 2013 came online via mobile.4 WeChat will
ensure that Tencent continues to be one of the
largest Internet companies in the world and
not lose relevance. Tencent could gain even
greater control over its subscribers if it chooses
to become an MVNO, thus exerting further
competitive pressure on mobile operators.
The free core basic service acts as the gateway
to Tencents other services, drawing users to
its wide range of paid-for value-added services,
such as games and membership levels that give
users additional features, content and status.
Many of Tencents Western peers primarily rely
on advertising, but Tencent is very successful in

monetising its user base through its value-added

services, which accounted for just under threequarters of its revenue in 2013. The diversity of
these value-added services, such as social games,
video and music, generates stickiness by catering
for a wide range of online activities, encouraging
users to spend more time on the site.
Tencent aims to upsell users to paid-for valueadded services, notably gaming and additional
features such as tiered membership levels
and personalisation options, which enhance
the users status within the online community.
The community is further monetised through
advertising, notably display and search advertising
on Tencents online properties and services.
Tencent started focusing on ecommerce in early
2012, in order to generate additional revenue
streams, both from users and merchants.
This wide variety of activities, and international
expansion, brings new competitive pressures
for mobile operators in China and the West,
highlighting the challenges of protecting core
services in an ever-shifting and increasingly
globalised landscape.

4. China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) (April 2014), Statistical report on Internet development in China. Available at www1.cnnic.cn/IDR/ReportDownloads/201404/U020140417607531610855.pdf.

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THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

5. SOFTWARE IS THE KEY TO

DIGITAL ECONOMY SERVICES AND
OPERATIONS
Telecoms operators already have the
communications infrastructure necessary to
support digital economy services. However, they still
need a new generation of software, based more on
IT than communications technologies. Three types
of software will be required to power the digital
economy service offerings of telecoms operators.
nS
 oftware that generalises the concept of service
delivery platforms (SDPs) and provides digital
economy-enhanced services to consumers and
enterprises. Much of this software will run in
virtualised environments and some will be offered
to customers as a service SaaS or PaaS.
nN
 ew OSS and BSS software, as well as
enhancements to existing systems, to provide
the operations support for new service offerings.
Telecoms operators will need to decide where the
new systems are needed or whether they can extend
established systems to support these new areas.

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nN
 ew digital economy enablement software,
with open APIs to digital economy ecosystem
partners. These APIs will open the interfaces of
existing systems, provide normalised interfaces
across multiple operating companies of multiregional players, and provide standardised
interfaces across multiple operators that each
operate in their own region. This represents
a new class of software, the future of which
depends on standards being set.
Analysys Masons analysts in the Digital Economy
Software Strategies research programme will
carefully follow how key operators are successfully
implementing these functions, as well as the
offerings of vendors to help them.

THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

6. ANALYSYS MASON COVERS

THE DIGITAL ECONOMY IN FIVE
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES
Five Analysys Mason research programmes cover
different aspects of the digital economy (see Figure 7).
nD
 igital Economy. Addresses the issues around
maximising the opportunities in digital economy
markets for operators.
nD
 igital Economy Software Strategies. Examines
the real-world operational steps necessary for
software systems to produce business benefits.

n Next-Generation Services. Helps service

providers, vendors, regulators and other players
to understand and prepare for the dramatic
changes that communications and media
markets are undergoing.
n Analytics Software Strategies. Provides research
on, and in-depth analysis of, trends and vendors
in the analytics market, as well as examples of
how operators and CSPs use analytics solutions.

n IoT and M2M Solutions. Examines how operators,

vendors and service providers can implement
best practices and understand the opportunity in
providing IoT and M2M solutions.

DIGITAL
ECONOMY
n Mobile financial
services
n Mobile
commerce
n Mobile health
n Smart home
security and
energy

NEXTGENERATION
SERVICES
nOTT services
n WebRTC
n Mobile identity
n Tech-enablers
for comms.
services

loT and M2M

SOLYTIONS
n Automotive
n Smart cities

n Framework

n Smart home
energy

n Direct carrier
billing
operational
interfaces

n M2M and loT

ANALYTICS
n Analytics
market size
and market
shares
nBig data: state
of market

n MVNO interfaces

n Fraud and
revenue
assurance

n DE software
platforms

n M
 obile
advertising

CONSUMER SERVICES

DIGITAL
ECONOMY
SOFTWARE
STRATEGIES

nCloud service
brokers

ENTERPRISE
AND M2M

TELECOMS SOFTWARE STRATEGIES

pFIGURE 7: Analysys Masons digital economy research by programme [Source: Analysys Mason, 2014]

www.analysysmason.com

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Enrique Velasco-Castillo (Analyst) is a key contributor to Analysys Masons Digital
Economy research, focusing on the opportunities for communications service providers
and vendors in emerging verticals such as mobile health, payments, commerce, and home
automation and security. Previously, Enrique covered mobile financial services and M&A
and funding activity for more than 2 years at research firm IHS, where he wrote several
reports on the opportunities for mobile operators in mobile payments and venture capital
investments in mobile. Enrique also has research experience in cleantech and healthcare
from other previous roles.
Martin Scott (Practice Head) is the head of Analysys Masons Consumer Services research
practice, which includes the Fixed Broadband and Multi-Play, Next-Generation Services, Mobile
Services, Mobile Devices and Digital Economy research programmes. His primary areas of
specialisation include the bundling and pricing of multi-play services, including quadruple-play
bundling, customer satisfaction and consumer-facing marketing strategy. He also specialises
in statistics, surveys and the analysis of primary research; he co-ordinates Analysys Masons
Connected Consumer and Consumer smartphone usage series of research.
Mark H Mortensen (Practice Head) is the lead analyst for Analysys Masons Customer Care,
Service Fulfilment and Digital Economy Software Strategies research programmes, which are
part of the Telecoms Software research stream. His interest areas include customer selfservice, new telco businesses entering the digital economy value chain, and network planning
and optimisation. The first 20 years of Marks career were at Bell Laboratories, where he
distinguished himself by starting software products for new markets and network technologies
and designing the interaction of BSS/OSSs with the underlying network hardware. Mark was
Chief Scientist of Management Systems at Bell Labs, and has also been president of his
own OSS strategy consulting company, CMO at the inventory specialist Granite Systems, VP
of Product Strategy at Telcordia Technologies, and SVP of Marketing at a network planning
software vendor. Mark holds an MPhil and a PhD in physics from Yale University and has
received two AT&T Architecture awards for innovative software solutions. He is also an adjunct
professor at UMass Lowell in the Manning School of Management, specialising in business
strategy. Mark has also participated on the GSMA Global Mobile Awards judging panel.
Stephen Sale (Principal Analyst) is the lead analyst for Analysys Masons Mobile Services and
Next-Generation Services research programmes. His primary areas of specialisation include
next-generation communication services, over-the-top (OTT) player strategies and mobile pricing.
He also has extensive experience in analysing mobile operator strategies and forecasting mobile
service markets. Before joining Analysys Mason in 2004, Stephen worked in the industry on areas
that include VoIP, next-generation service architecture and broadband access. He has a degree in
economics and an interdisciplinary MRes from the University of London.
John Abraham (Senior Analyst) is part of the BSS practice in Analysys Masons Telecoms
Software Research team. He leads our Revenue Management programme and contributes
to mobile money research for the Digital Economy Software Strategies programme. John
has been part of the telecoms industry since 2006, and joined Analysys Mason in early
2012. He has worked on a range of telco projects in Africa, Europe, India and the Middle
East. Before joining Analysys Mason, he worked for Subex, a provider of BSS offerings.
John holds a bachelors degree in computer science from Anna University (India) and an
MBA from Bradford University School of Management

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Analysys Mason Limited 2014

THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

ABOUT ANALYSYS MASON

Analysys Mason is the global specialist adviser in telecoms, media and
technology (TMT). Through our global presence and local perspective,
we deliver strategy advice, operations support and market intelligence to
regulators, operators, financial institutions, vendors and other market players
around the world.

Consulting

Research

For almost three decades, our consultants have

been bringing the benefits of applied intelligence
to enable clients to make the most of their
opportunities.

Analysys Masons research service covers

consumer and enterprise services, as well as the
software, infrastructure and technology underlying
those services.

nW
 e deliver tangible benefits to clients across the
TMT industry: operators, vendors, governments,
regulators, service and content providers,
financial institutions and private equities etc...

nO
 ur dedicated team of analysts track and forecast
the different services accessed by consumers and
enterprises.

nO
 ur sector specialists understand the distinct
territorial challenges facing clients, in addition to
the wider effects of global forces.
nW
 e are future-focused and help clients understand the
challenges and opportunities new technology brings.

RE

RCH
SEA

nW
 e also offer detailed insight into the software,
infrastructure and technology delivering those
services.
nC
 lients benefit from regular and timely
intelligence, and direct access to analysts.

CO N S U

Consumer
services

Regulation

CH

STOM RES

Network
technologies

AR

Operational
consulting

CU

Regional
markets

Enterprise
and M2M

LTI
N

Telecoms
software

Transaction
support
planning

Contact Analysys Mason at: enquiries@analysysmason.com

www.analysysmason.com

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@analysysmason
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