IMS- the making of another lost opportunity for operator on applications- RCS. VoLTE takes network e olution an!

some oice re enues will "e lost. #oyn is unlikely to succee!. $i%e! & Mo"ile con ergence will !ifferentiate the operator. IMS is more notorious in the telecom worl! than any other technology for the last se eral years. ' simple (uote from a en!or will easily run into a few million !ollars for a "are "one solution with a "usiness case which relies on passionate optimism than any real success. )hile fi%e! line operators successfully implemente! the technology an! "enefite! from it in terms of low cost an! feature rich applications* mo"ile worl! is coming to terms with it now. $or the last se eral years* mo"ile operators like +eutsche Telekom an! Vo!afone ma!e small implementations "oth hoste! an! in-house in the hope that applications running on it will some !ay ha e enough re enues to ,ustify the in estment. Most of the implementations !ie! in ain with !ea! "usiness cases* while a few li e! on to tell their story as inno ati e an! intelligent platforms on which future operator successes coul! "e "uilt. -perators worl! o er lo e to call themsel es as !ifferent- most as inno ators than as low cost. .owe er in the struggle of spectrum auctions* regulatory re(uirements* running the network* M/'s an! changing technology lan!scape* few successfully e%ecute "eyon! talk. E ery application launche! "y an operator in the last few years that compete! with an o er the top player "egge! the (uestion of interopera"ility "etween operators* locally an! glo"ally an! none so far succee!e!. 'n! none pro"a"ly will. )ithout a!o* IMS is right on their face now "ecause Voice on LTE will "e se eral "illion !ollar "usiness an! IMS is re(uire! of it. So the "ig (uestion is what0s going to happen. 1roa!ly the IMS (uestion has 2 key parts to it- Voice for "oth current 3SM an! C+M' operators* applications like Rich Communications Suite an! others* an! then fi%e! mo"ile con ergence. This write up co ers all three aspects of IMS an! what is likely going to happen on each of these VoLTE In this area lea! has "een taken "y 4orean operators S4 Telekom an! L3 56 an! 5S C+M' operators Veri7on an! Metro 8CS who are anticipating fewer han!sets from en!ors as the technology phases out. European countries such as in Scan!ina ia who were pioneers in LTE launches way "ack in 9::; are a "it of a laggar! !ue to slower a!option of LTE. Countries like 54 an! Italy are now slowly rolling out LTE "ut the min!set is more to sweat )C+M' in estment "efore ,umping on LTE. Technical challenges apart the "iggest (uestion for 5S operators are two fol!. Mo"ile "roa!"an! as its forecaste! to grow will "reak all recor!s of consumption in which case operators will ha e to re-farm their 93* 23 networks for LTE. )hat will happen to oice then< Secon!ly* as mo"ile "roa!"an! "ecomes per asi e -TTs like Vi"er an! Skype will further strengthen their "usiness* seriously hurting operator0s oice re enues* which along with SMS comprise ;:= of operator re enues to!ay. 't this point I also want to !ispel the myth that Voice on CS-93* 23 is cheaper than Voice on !ata from spectrum utili7ation or ra!io perspecti e* for the simple fact CS oice takes >:->? times more spectrum than similar spee! on !ata. -r the same num"er of users that can "e supporte! "y ? Mh7 spectrum for oice can a ail themsel es of >:->? times

more e(ui alent spee! on !ata. $urther* LTE can support 2 times more users on oice )C+M' an! @ times more than 23. Coming "ack to the two points* on why the operators will ha e to mo e to VoLTE an! hence IMS* I "elie e sense of urgency will come from point one. -perators ha e misera"ly faile! in the past to really tackle -TT an! in this case whether !ue to regulatory or "usiness alacrity issues they will not "e a"le to stop Vi"er an! Skype. .owe er* mo"ile "roa!"an! will necessitate operators to refarm 93* 23 an! gi e an alternati e for oice through VoLTE an! hense IMS. -ther "enefits like .+ Voice* lower call set up time* ,itter etc. will follow. Aonetheless operators will claim that they successfully thwarte! the -TTs. That0s the nature of the "usiness unfortunately. RCS and Applications 'nyone an! e eryone in har!ware "usiness whether its !e ice* Switch* I8 or ser er manufacturer knows that future growth lies in applications an! software. 'n! telecom operator knows it too. 1ut for reasons known an! unknown* none of the operator attempts ma!e in the past such as Vo!afone 2@:* IAB* social networks* music an! i!eo ser ices ha e come any where close to face"ook* spotify* !ee7er et al. )hat operators ha e "ecome the smartest is in "un!ling an! pricing. Rich communications suite which offers* instant message* chatting* file sharing* network a!!ress "ook* oice an! i!eo chat has "een aroun! for sometime an! now has gaine! a new impetus gi en the IMS implementations re(uire! of VoLTE. 5nlike the past* le! "y Vo!afone* +T* $T* Telefonica* TI an! others ha e come together to launch an interopera"le ser ice calle! #oyn "acke! "y 3SM'. #oyn is calle! RCSe which means it is without presence. So far launches ha e happene! in Spain* South 4orea an! 3ermany with han!set en!ors supporting the initiati e. Interestingly Cain in Buwait plans a trial on supporte! "y clou! capacity pro i!e! "y Vo!afone. The point is that there has "een no real impact though its "een at least a year or so for this initiati e an! atleast D-? months since launches. -n the others applications si!e* skepticism stems primarily from the fact that operators ha e long trie! to create! an eco system of !e elopers etc. through their own applications stores* open '8Is an! portals etc. Many of them like Veri7on unceremoniously shut it an! others !ie! or are still languishing !oing little ,ustice to the fanfare with which they were launche! ,ust a couple of years ago. The same pro"lems that le! to the !emise of operators applications stores an! alike will ail open '8I* in-house* outsources or partnership application initiati es on IMS an! this will "e a passE !iscussion few years hence. Fixed / Mobile Convergence 1ase! on what Rogers ha e achie e! through Rogers -ne Aum"ers an! China Mo"ile has achie e! through 23 life-32 communications- one can safely claim that fi%e!& mo"ile con ergence use cases "ase! on IMS ha e a strong case for consumer preference. -ne num"er across your 8C an! mo"ile through which you can switch your calls from phone to 8C. Conferencing* chatting* call routing to all !e ices on a num"er* oice an! i!eo chat* ha e all seen initial an! significant success* an! it is a ery goo! tool for an operator to !ifferentiate themsel es from the other. 1esi!es* it helps an operators to

reali7e strategic "enefits from IT in estments across multiple IMS implementations at the "ack en!. Se eral operators that offer "oth fi%e! an! mo"ile ser ices will le erage this synergy to "un!le an! price their offerings in a way to ma%imi7e their re enues an! gain an e!ge o er competition. 1ottom line in 9-2 years VoLTE will start to "ecome mainstream* #oyn an! RCS an! any application relate! initiati es "y operators will not succee! an! fi%e! line operator will ha e another weapon up their slee e to go out an! !ifferentiate themsel es from the competition.