Video new opportunity for mobile operators

NEW DELHI:London-based global mobile operators’lobby group, GSM Association (GSMA) CEO John Hoffman said that video continues to drive overall mobile data traffic and video has become the 2nd key medium for user engagement besides messaging.

"This trend will lead to new opportunities for mobile operators and players across the ecosystem," said Hoffman at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai (MWCS) 2016, Huawei and GSMA jointly held a Big Video Summit, attracting visitors from leading global carriers, partners, and industry experts from research institutions. The summit aimed to build a platform for profound communication between carriers and their partners in the video domain.

Video has been a hot topic to global carriers. Many carriers have successfully transformed video service into one of their basic services. Zou Zhilei, President of Huawei’s Carrier BG, shared his opinions on the factors that contributed to the success of carriers’ video business. First, the decision-makers of video industry players or carriers attached great important to the video strategy, combing their resources, capabilities and talent to promote video development.

Second, carriers deployed experience-driven end-to-end video networks to deliver optimal video experience to customers. Third, carriers formulated video strategies rather on staying on the tactical level. They have invested huge amount money into the video business in anticipation for long-term returns. By investing heavily in strategic businesses like the cloud and video, carriers have maximized the value of their network pipes and reclaimed the top position in the industry chain.

Transformation is occurring in all industries, all over the world. Zou Zhilei raised a "Three-Phase" theory on ICT industry transformation in his opening speech. According to Zou, ICT industry transformation occurs in three phases. The first phase occurred before the year 2000, when industry development relied heavily on networks, making equipment vendors the most valuable companies in the industry. The second phase was between 2000 and 2015.

During this phase, industry transformation was driven by applications. Many Internet giants emerged as a result. The third phase of transformation will occur over the next 2 to 3 decades. During this phase, ICT transformation will focus on vertical industries. The core of the third transformation phase will be upgrading traditional industries.

For carriers, the biggest transformation trend is video's evolution from a value-added service to a basic service for carriers. Entertainment video for individual users is growing rapidly and vertical industry video is also surging. Zou shared Huawei's vision for the future of big video, saying, "In the near future, video will be everywhere in people's lives and will be applied in a wide range of industries. It will become a new way of life as we enter the Big Video era."

Ubiquitous real-time video requires support from high-speed networks. The success of the video business will be determined by video experience. Poor video experience will pose a serious obstacle to its development. Video is also a measurement standard for network quality; good video experience increases network value. Carriers need to expand their subscriber bases, improve service experience, achieve sustainable profits, and reduce the TTM of new video services by building an integrated video platform.

Li Kunlong, Director of Huawei's carrier video business, proposed the concept of integrated video at the summit: "The integration of entertainment, communication, and industry video is a global trend. Huawei will help carriers build integrated, open, cloud-based PSVN networks that support intelligent operations, in order to deliver the best end-to-end integrated video experience."

Delivering optimal video experience cannot be achieved by a single company. Rather, it will require joint effort and innovation from players across the video ecosystem. With the proper network infrastructure, video content, and industry applications, we can build an open platform and prosperous ecosystem. Other industry players, including carriers, research institutes, standards organizations, analyst firms, and content providers also gave speeches, sharing their insights and engaging in extensive discussions. All summit participants expressed their need for closer partnerships between video industry players, and called for the creation of an open and cooperative video ecosystem.

Huawei is dedicated to becoming a top video experience enabler, video operations integrator, and video partner for carriers. Huawei aims to work with all industry partners to jointly build an open big video ecosystem in order to usher in a better video future.