Yesterday a couple of spanish newspapers decided to "attack" Telefónica:- El País (In spanish, inside the article: Monetisation of this service puts in question network neutrality)
- Público (In spanish, the header: Telefónica finds a way to make Facebook and Google pay [...for network usage])
Both articles described a new "VIP" service telefónica had launched: a CDN. Yes, you read right, a CDN. Supposedly this breaks network neutrality...
Hours later Enrique Dans made a good post on his blog, I hope the journalists read it.
First of all, it is a pity that on two of Spain's main newspapers there are journalists writing on something they have no clue about, and what's worse, not consulting an expert before writing nonsense.
But leaving aside journalists and editors incompetence in this matter, lets focus on the real deal and what has been bothering me for some time now: What will the role of the carrier be in the market, considering the path it is taking?
Too many mistakes: Managers and Directors don't seem to understand the market and their role in it
I won't make friends with this but this is the true situation, and denying the truth doesn't make it disappear.
We have transitioned from the walled gardens to the total openness of iPhones and Androids where the carrier has no control on what's happening in the handset. From a total control on the carrier side to becoming a mere spectator.
During Summer 2008 Apple launched the App Store. It took Nokia 1 year to react. Telefonica will launch soon its own App store... 3 years after Apple... and this brings me back to my last post: Business thoughts: Competition vs Market Fragmentation
Telefónica launched Keteke, its own social network, in November 2008. They spent about 10 million Euros. In august 2010 it was closed, a few weeks after Telefonica bought 85% of Tuenti, main spanish social network, for 72 million Euros. (We'll see what happens with Tuenti, got my own thoughts on that...)
We know what happened with Lycos and Terra...
And so on and so forth...
We've been mentioning Telefónica but similar things are happening on other carriers.
The future: Back To Basics
From time to time managers need to take two steps back, get out of the forest and see the real picture. We are in a moment in time where carriers need to get back to their true role (even if they don't like it or believe it is too unglamorous for them... I'd also like to be John Carmack, Tim Sweeney or Steve Jobs, but you can't always get what you want)
These are the basics of a carrier:
- Network Infrastructure
- Voice + Data income
- Customer information and access
... and they have to focus on them and forget the rest because experience tells us they don't know how to do it.
They have to use their network and put it in value. Doing things like launching the CDN Telefónica is launching is a smart move and it should be the first of many.
Voice income is going down, data income is going up... work with that, analyse behavior, usage, look for deeply hidden patterns that will let you innovate with pricing, with service packaging... drive revenues up through more attractive pricing plans.
Monetise all the knowledge you have on your costumers through targetted advertising, to establish JV with companies such as Groupon, etc.
Take advantage of the trust your users have in your billing system, use your processing power, the ability to provide real-time information to your users and provide them with a state-of-the-art experience for mobile payments. Forget about controlling it, you are not a bank, you are not VISA, you're not even Paypal... join them, work with them... accept a smaller share of the pie but make that pie grow through synergies.
And, finally, do 3 more things (that will make you win, in 5-10 years, a lot of money in many ways):
- Create a early-stage venture fund with 25 million euros every year that will allow you to invest 250K€ in 100 companies every year. 25 million euros is less than 0,25% of Telefónica's net profit in 2010... peanuts for them)
- Create a growth venture fund with 25 million euros every year that will allow you to invest 2.5 Million€ in 10 startups every year.
- Get a good team for those funds.
I only wish Alierta, Fdez-Valbuena, Pallete... read this...
