European operators should diversify their mobile video strategies and business models, according to a new report from Huawei.
The China-based vendor said the continent’s operators lag behind rivals in North America and advanced Asia Pacific countries when it comes to facilitating the growth of mobile video consumption and innovative monetisation models.
It said operators in Europe were reliant on “vanilla” plans that promote larger data buckets and urged them to look at strategies such as video-centric tariffs and sponsored data plans.
T-Mobile USA’s Binge On, which features zero-rated content, Verizon’S OTT video app go90 and Korea’s LG Uplus, which offers subscription LTE video, were cited as innovative examples.
Huawei noted that an aging population less inclined to fully embrace mobile video and concerns over data consumption and average cost were challenges European operators were faced with.
Qiu Heng, President of Huawei Wireless Network Marketing Operation, said: “Operators like LG Uplus in Korea, T-Mobile in the USA and Verizon have demonstrated a strong ambition to monetise video content, by introducing innovative pricing approaches, including zero-rating video traffic, enabling sponsored data, offering video-centric tariffs and by launching their own branded mobile video apps and services to tap new sources of revenue.
“We see some leading European mobile operators already exploring the use of video services and they are seeing increasing revenue from it.
“We would like to see more European mobile operators consider similar approaches to maximise growing demand for mobile video.”
However, there are signs that things are starting to change.
Last week, the Chairman of Vivendi Content has revealed he is in discussions with “all the telcos” about a new mobile-first TV and video service.
In June, UK MVNO Tesco Mobile launched a sponsored data offering.