A new study from Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) finds that annual global operator-billed revenues from voice and data services are expected to fall by over $50 billion over the next five years — from $837 billion last year to $785 billion by 2022.
The research group attributed the anticipated decline to further migration to OTT (over-the-top) messaging and social media services, with data bundle pricing erosion also expected to impact significantly on revenues. However, Juniper has identified a series of new revenue opportunities and costs savings which collectively would enable operators to sustain, or even increase, margins. The study claimed that the opportunities afforded by the IoT (Internet of Things) should enable operators to increase revenues from that sector by over $8 billion by 2022.
It also argues that A2P messaging adoption across a number of key verticals including marketing, banking and healthcare should result in a similar uplift in revenues from that source. Meanwhile, the report highlighted a series of measures by which costs could be reduced, including network virtualization, the implementation of next-generation firewalls and improving CRM (Customer Relationship Management).