Operators Step Up Mobile Cloud Efforts

One-third of operators are using revenue-sharing models and partnerships with cloud-based content providers to deliver mobile cloud services.

That's one of the findings in Allot Communications' Q2 2012 MobileTrends Charging Report, which analyzes data collected from more than 100 mobile operators worldwide.

More specifically, the report says the operators are offering cloud-based services through partners like Rhapsody, Spotify and Deezer. It also says that nearly half (46 percent) offer value-based plans, with services like parental control or music streaming. And LTE operators have embraced value-based pricing in a similar manner as those with 3G networks.

"LTE is expanding the scope for value-based pricing innovation over 3G," said Monica Paolini, PhD, founder and president of Senza Fili Consulting. “We will see even more pricing choice offered to LTE subscribers over time, as subscribers increasingly expect their broadband plan to reflect their preferences with regards to content, usage and services that are valuable to them, and give them the flexibility to make the choices that work best for them."

The survey shows that nearly one-third of operators (32 percent) charge for Wi-Fi access (offload), and carriers have a challenge incorporating offloaded traffic into their policy-control architecture. The number charging for tethering almost doubled over the past nine months – from 15 percent to 29 percent – marking a rise in operator efforts to closely monitor and monetize a huge spike in data consumption.

"Working with some of the world’s largest operators, we found the need for pricing innovation to be a cross-regional requirement," said Andrei Elefant, Allot’s VP of marketing.