Openwave Mobility Discloses 2018 Predictions

Openwave Mobility disclosed forecasts for the year 2018. The predictions are constructed on two chief pieces of analysis  - the mobile video index (MVI) that is based on live data collected from over 30 worldwide mobile operators and the NFV Playbook, based on NFV trials and deployments with insight from the top industry analysts.

John Giere, President and CEO, Openwave Mobility said, “In 2017 nearly 40 percent of all mobile video traffic was HD. HD requires 3-4x more bandwidth than standard video and this is stretching some networks to breaking point.

In 2018, we forecast HD to reach 50 percent of mobile video traffic. 2018 is a make or break year for mobile QoE. Forward-looking operators have started the fightback to take control of their networks and subscribers.”

“Encryption protocols from Google, Facebook and others continue to darken mobile networks for mobile operators – and operators can’t manage what they can’t see with conventional traffic management technology. To get a feel for the sheer scale of this growth considers Google QUIC. QUIC has grown at an astonishing CAGR of 284%. Nobody saw this coming,” said, Indranil Chatterjee, SVP of Products, Sales & Marketing.

Established on this, in 2018, we expect that the 90 percent of internet traffic will go dark for operators. Google QUIC will be 32 percent of the overall internet traffic. This is a further nail in the coffin for operator’s capability to deal with subscriber QoE unless they take hands-on steps, he added.

Matt Halligan, Chief Technology Officer, Openwave Mobility commented, “Our research in 2017 revealed strengths and weaknesses in mobile operator NFV strategies. On a positive, AT&T’s initiative with Open Source software and clear objectives tied to annual bonuses provided inspiration to a number of other operators. But on the negative, some operators have misaligned the financial and business case for NFV. For example, the majority of an operator’s budget, typically 80-90%, is still Capital Expenditure. This is fundamentally misaligned with the very DNA of a cloud model, which is a pure Operational Expenditure. This is a cultural issue and we anticipate tough conversations between finance and operations groups to continue in 2018.  Additionally, some operators risk crippling their NFV strategy before it gets off the ground, by creating vendor lock-ins and technology siloes. Ironically these are some of the very problems NFV was set up to resolve. From our observations, successful operators appear to spend 70% on VNFs and 30% on NFV infrastructure. We expect that to continue.”

The iPhone X created a buzz when it gave the world the technology of facial recognition. Rather than allowing OTTs such as Google and Apple to ‘own’ subscriber identity and security, mobile operators have been working with industry initiatives such as GSMA Mobile Connect on authentication platforms.

Yet, OTT data encryption has impacted this as well. Header Enrichment, a security identification method used by operators, does not work with protected traffic. New technologies are able to deal with encrypted data and are turning the tide for operators.

“In 2018, a handful of forward-thinking operators will start to use identity and security mechanisms to alleviate the headache of remembering usernames and passwords. Our research conducted in 2017 in the US and Europe found that 76 percent of subscribers need assistance from mobile operators to present them single sign-ins for apps and services – to make life uncomplicated”, said Aman Brar, VP, SDM & Global Alliances, Openwave Mobility.

John Giere, President and CEO, Openwave Mobility concludes, “The continuing convergence of media and communications presents phenomenal opportunities. Success will be defined by how mobile operators manage and navigate their mobile data, which has once again grown 100 percent year-on-year. A key challenge is that video accounts for 76 percent of that growth. There’s also a dramatic shift in the cloud, as an increasing amount of network traffic is getting delivered via NFV, and 92 percent of network traffic will be delivered via the cloud by 2020”.

Given these trends, mobile operators need a united identity profile for each subscriber. This would take into account the subscriber's necessities and make sure they receive the best possible QoE however and wherever they consume media.

This puts the operator on the best possible footing for 2018 to monetize their data and maintain this righteous cycle of mobile video and cloud.