Getting Personal: Mobile Operators to See $2.9 Billion from Individualized Services in 2011

Personalized services for mobile customers are on the brink of providing a rich new revenue stream for mobile operators, according to a new ABI Research study. Last year service customization returned only about $806 million to MNOs, but by the end of 2011 it will deliver about $2.9 billion in annual operator revenue. This market will continue to grow strongly in the following years.

Personalized mobile phone services are made possible by the technical evolution of real-time charging and subscriber profiling tools. But the business case is made by operator and customer demand. According to senior analyst Mark Beccue, “To grow, MNOs must take away subscribers from competitors or find ways to increase the ARPU of the subscribers they have.”

What applications are leading the personalization charge? One of the first areas of personalization isn’t particularly dramatic: it’s real-time charging for multimedia content and mobile Internet services. The majority of mobile phone users worldwide pre-pay for their service. Previously, it was difficult  for carriers to charge such customers for non-voice, non-text  purchases such as music and video downloads. With an increasing introduction of real-time charging capabilities for these services, customers can do it by topping up their prepaid accounts or using a credit card.

“Prepaid customers are the low-hanging fruit,” says Beccue. “They want to buy multimedia content just as much as post-paid subscribers. It’s a huge opportunity.”

Perhaps the greatest growth opportunity for personalized services comes from  “metered broadband”: the ability to access the Internet on an ad hoc basis, or to extend in real time the access bundled in a subscriber’s plan.

Other personalized services include customized Web browsing, parental controls, and enhanced control of text messaging which will enable users to block certain numbers, set some automated forwarding rules, and otherwise configure their SMS.

The new report, “Service Personalization” outlines the key elements MNOs must utilize to develop successful personalized services. It identifies and forecasts the services that are and will be successful today and in the future, and includes profiles and critiques of 23 vendors which provide solutions for personalized services. It forms part of the firm’s Mobile Consumer Research Service.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of emerging trends in global connectivity. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advise thousands of decision makers through research and advisory services in seven key practice areas. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.