This document provides an overview and summary of a webinar on Telco-OTT and operator infrastructure implications. The webinar discussed how traditional telephony and SMS services are declining due to the rise of over-the-top (OTT) communication apps. It noted that bundles, HD voice, and APIs can only delay the inevitable transition to OTT-led services. The webinar also covered challenges for telcos in developing their own OTT services, including managing cannibalization of existing services, flexibility to change offerings, and meeting security and regulatory requirements. It provided examples of telco-OTT infrastructure options and design considerations for building web-like, scalable architectures.
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Telco ott - webminar slides
1. Telco-OTT: the Good, the Fast and the Nimble
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Presenter:
2. The inevitability of Telco-OTT & the implications for
operator infrastructure
Fierce Webinar
27th September, 2012
dean.bubley@disruptive-analysis.com @disruptivedean
3. Harsh truth: OTT services are telcos’ only option
• Telephony & SMS prices have peaked
• Telephony & SMS demand has peaked
• APIs, bundles, HD, video only delay the inevitable
• Need for new voice-based services beyond ―calls‖
• Too fast-evolving for new ―federated‖ services
• Too uncertain / innovation-driven for standards
OTT-style services offer only the hope for continued telco
communications services growth & increase in relevance
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
4. Europe already far down the cliff
Mobile core
services revenue,
indicative W Europe Total c40% fall
from peak
Telephony c80%
fall from peak
SMS & today’s
mobile data services
Mobile telephony
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
September 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
5. ―Peak Telephony‖ is here
If telephony was
free, how many
minutes would
you use?
Source: Ofcom
And is that
number rising or
falling?
UK mobile call volumes falling despite
increasing use of contract plans with
large inclusive bundles of minutes
September 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
6. Voice Telephony: Catastrophe imminent?
Supply Price Demand
Core question: Can data services & other revenue streams grow enough to
offset the probable flattening & decline of voice & messaging?
Uncomfortable answer: probably not, based on recent evidence
Disruption (positive & negative) is both inevitable & essential
September 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
7. Messaging (SMS): Dead Man Walking
Supply Price
Demand
Messaging is already fragmented & becoming more so. It is already a feature, not
a service, for many use-cases. Can it continue to be monetised directly?
Very uncomfortable answer: not much, for anyone with a data connection
Disruption is likely to be terminal, in the medium term
September 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
8. Outright substitution often = better experience
Voice
telephony
only used for
exceptions &
problems
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
9. Phone calls are old, clunky & rude
Ruth: Am I alone in really not liking talking on the phone? Or am I
a bit weird? It's just that someone phoning you on a mobile is a bit
like someone leaping into the middle of your room yelling "Talk to me!
Drop everything you are doing and talk to me RIGHT NOW!
Scott: I like voicemail. My phone is for me to talk to people when I
want to. Not for them to bug me at their leisure.
Matt: nods* Asynchronous communication FTW!
*
Fleur: Totally agree. People should ask for permission by text or
email before calling.
10. APIs, HD & bundles aren’t going to save the day
HD – may drive a little extra use
Video-calling – extremely niche
Bundles
Most bundled products are cheaper than constituent parts
Unclear where telcos can ―magic‖ extra value from
Unlikely customers too stupid to spot implicit price rises
APIs
Definite uses for embedding voice/messaging in apps
Telephony or SMS aren’t always the best ―raw ingredients‖
WebRTC on the horizon
RCS / RCSe. No.
VoLTE – really just ToLTE. Necessary but too late to matter
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
11. Voice ≠ Telephony
Now: 2G & 3G Future: Smartphones & LTE
Voice
Voice
Telephony
Telephony
Voicemail Gaming, CEBP,
Conferencing surveillance, social
PTT Video voice, TV voice etc
Video, context, sense
September 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
12. Fragmentation is valuable & inevitable
Convergence, OTT-led Fragmentation &
interoperability & innovation
standards
It will fragment ―because it
can‖. Consumer need for
ubiquity is over-rated
… new standardised services are neither necessary, nor sufficient.
They are irrelevant at best, and actively damaging at worst.
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
13. Device diversity more reason OTT is inevitable
Probability of all of a user’s Internet / messaging devices being
on a single telco’s network
100%
Free 3rd party WiFi
90%
80% Shared data plans only a
70% partial response
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1 2 3 4 5 6
# connected devices owned
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
14. What do these services have in common?
Owned & operated by mobile operators
Usable by anyone, not just subscribers
Via apps & public Internet
Telco-OTT Services
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
15. Different models for Telco-OTT
Telco OTT
service Internet
Normal ―on
net‖ users
Off-net
Telco extension user
service
Telco Internet
Billing &
ID
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
16. Telco-OTT is neither new, nor impossible
Not just voice & messaging: Telco-OTT Cloud,
Content, Social, TV, Connectivity…..
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
17. Build vs. buy decision
Build own OTT
from ground up
Integrate off-the- Acquisition
shelf OTT solution
Uniqueness &
flexibility
Customise existing
Internet-OTT
Partner existing
Internet-OTT
Budget, resources & skills
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
19. Telco-OTT: Carrier-grade & Internet sensibilities
Web / app philosophies (eg freemium)
Security
Scalability
Flexible platform for multiple services/features
Good QoE (UI design, battery life, voice quality, OS’s etc)
But also:
(Probably) Lawful intercept / emergency
(Possibly) integration with billing / OSS
(Maybe) interop with legacy / IMS / OTT services & enablers
(Maybe) integration with network QoS mechanisms
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
20. OTT infrastructure choices
OSS
Telco-OTT Security,
Web Application session Internet
platform mgmt etc
Telco Flexible
Service- App / Web /
core Rapid update
independent OS native .
Differentiation Proprietary
functions (mostly
Various back- Mostly proprietary UI, maybe
standardised)
end integration logic, may use standard
strategies standard platform protocols
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
21. Conclusions
Traditional telephony & SMS future looks bleak
Some mileage in bundling, marketing voice better, APIs etc.
But only postponing the inevitable
VoLTE likely, but late & won’t fundamentally change things
RCS unlikely & may damage things
Fragmentation is desirable, valuable & inevitable
OTT plays will dominate in usage & value, maybe not revenue
(Revenue from other sources, offset from voice/messaging directly)
Telco-OTT strategy becoming mainstream
But not easy to design, manage or build
Ownership & infrastructure decisions determine scalability & flexibility
Investment in platform approach is desirable, if possible
Sep 2012 Copyright Disruptive Analysis Ltd 2012
23. Non-exclusive real-time service delivery
choices
Networks
architectures
IMS Web Telco-OTT
User interfaces
phone app browser
Technologies
SIP
24. OTT service delivery challenges
Immediate
Practical core session
management
•Cost effective at low & high-end
•Able to start small & grow rapidly
Service quality
•NAT & firewall traversal (i.e. HTTP &
HTTPS only)
•Near PSTN-quality – media & availability
•Consistent experience across devices &
interfaces
25. OTT service delivery challenges
Immediate Imminent
Practical core session Flexibility
management •Quickly adjust to changing service needs
•Works with many infrastructure & client
•Cost effective at low & high-end
devices
•Able to start small & grow rapidly
•Federates with network service providers
Security
Service quality •Protect user information
•Maintain service availability during attacks
•NAT & firewall traversal (i.e. HTTP &
HTTPS only)
•Near PSTN-quality – media & availability Regulatory compliance
•Consistent experience across devices &
•Current expectations: E911, lawful
interfaces
intercept, taxes
•Expect more IP network regulations, not
less
26. OTT service delivery implications
Immediate Imminent
Practical core session Flexibility
management •Off-the-shelf, but programmable for
flexible, rapid changes
•Light weight, dynamic core session
management •Quickly interoperable with any device
& network
•Smarter clients vs. omnipotent core
for scalability
Security
Service quality •Robust, service-intelligent security
•Client-side technologies to overcome
packet-loss & jitter
•Make all traffic look like web-traffic Regulatory compliance
(http & https, SSL, etc.) •Out-of-the box regulatory compliance
27. Today’s core session management
options are not ideal
IMS Open source
My SIP Switch
Opensourcesip.org
Too complex – difficult to Too long – time-to-service
implement & maintain Too risky – many unknowns
Too costly – OPEX & CAPEX Too costly – creation,
maintenance & evolution
28. What are the leading service delivery
architectures?
3GPP R10 IMS Web
DB
DB
AS AS AS
WS WS WS WS
LB-L
LB-G
Internet
29. Telecom architecture can be web-like
M
Q
AS TDM C
Database Fire-
Web walls
servers
LB
M
Q Load
AS media
C balancers
Firewalls TDM
TDM
TDM MQC:
• Mobility
• Quality
• Charging
30. Telco-OTT architectures
should be web-like
Web Telco-OTT
DB DB
DB DB
AS AS
AS AS AS DSC
Peering
partners
WS WS WS WS SMX SMX SMX
LB-L
LB-G LB-L
SLB-G
Managed IP
Internet Internet
Network
30
30
31. Telco-OTT architectures
should rapidly scale & adapt
Start-up High-scale
DB
DB
AS AS
DB DSC
Peering
AS partners
SMX SMX SMX
SMX
LB-L
SLB-G
Managed IP Managed IP
Internet Internet
Network Network
9/27/2012 31
32. Scaling strategies are changing
Hardware systems Virtual machines
Vertical scaling Horizontal scaling
Elasticity Manager
Virtualization Layer
32
33. Simplicity should not preclude
ecosystem interoperability
TAS
CS
ENUM ISC
SIP
DNS/DDNS
ISC
IM&P
Cx
HSS
SIP MCU
Rx
PCRF
SIP/ WebTRC
SIP
TSCF
SBC &
Core session
management
Web-based RTC
SIP clients with SIP
33
34. Its all about apps
700M apps available in App Store
250M iPad specific apps
90% downloaded each month
>100 average apps per user
34
35. Tunneled Service Control Function brings
firewall traversal & QoE to Apps
Service provider data center
Individual user’s real-time comms & data
services within a TLS or DTLS tunnel
Web SIP MSRP
Strict firewall traversal
Appears as SSL port 443
QoE controls
Tunnel redundancy TLS/
Bandwidth controls per app – voice vs. data DTLS
tunnel
Admission control - server transaction load
Security
User authentication
Privacy and confidentiality
Service delivery security (Net-SAFE)
TSCF
High availability – stateful failover SDK
Acme Packet-enabled
TSCF client
36. Engineering around packet-loss: Tunnel
redundancy
Service provider data center
Redundant tunnels
created
by SBC
Network with
Tunneled packets packet loss
take different
network paths
TSCF client chooses
switches to optimal
tunnel
TSCF
client
5/30/2012 Acme Packet | Confidential 36
37. Better voice quality than Skype during
severe packet loss
Tunnel redundancy -
MOS preserved
No tunnel redundancy
MOS quickly degrades
MOS estimates based on R-factor scores at the SBC.
5/30/2012 Acme Packet | Confidential
MOS at user device typically higher. 37
38. TSCF is open
3GPP technical requirement – TR
33.830 (V.0.2.0)
TSCF approved for inclusion in TR
SA3#68 in Bratislava (July)
Supporting companies: Windows 7, Vista, XP – PC
• Acme Packet • Intel & laptop based softphones
• China Mobile • RIM
• Ericsson • Vodafone
Android 2.3/3.x/4.0 –
• Huawei • ZTE Honeycomb (2.3),
Free TSCF client source code Gingerbread (3.x), Ice Cream
Sandwich (4.0)
available
Reference applications & tools
Linphone TSCF client iOS 5.1/5.0 – iPhone 4G/4GS,
iPad 2/3 & iTouch
tsc_sip_client, tsc_sip_server
sipp
Wireshark plug-in
Acme Packet Interconnect 2012 38
39. TSCF vs. WebRTC - different approaches for
different use cases
SIP with TSCF Web-based RTC
Services data center Services data center
Web SIP MSRP Web SIP MSRP
servers core servers servers core servers
Any Any
network network
HTTP(s) SIP MSRP SIP & RTP
HTTP(s) MSRP(s)
RTP RTMP/WebRTC
Voice Video/file Voice Video/file
App Data Browser Data
video share
video, IM share
40. Net-Net
Telco-OTT architectures should resemble web-architectures
without sacrificing key service-enablement features
Telco OTT service delivery challenges are numerous, but
surmountable - i.e. TSCF, effective core session
management, smart clients, etc.
Telco-OTT is already delivering successful services in time-
spans of months!
42. TU Me is...
• Communications timeline
• Voice + text
• Media and photos
• Location
• More... And much more to come
• Pure OTT (first ever from a Telco!)
• Engineered in 100 days
43. TU Me is not..
• Not meant to undermine Telco value.. Instead
create new categories.
• The game has changed—Google, Facebook,
Apple, Microsoft…have been innovating for
years… !!
• Not a tricky maneuver to distract consumers or
confuse the marketplace
• We're building a real service for real people
44. DIY Lessons
• Don't do fake digital... Customers will know.
Have a vision and do the vision.
• Break down your internal walls: digital has to be
the plan, not the enemy or an afterthought
• Shoot for Near-Telco-Grade, not perfection, and
compete on quality and vision…
• Build an infrastructure that will allow you to
expand
45. Incubate + risk
• Twitter emerged from a different product
idea … nobody ―strategized‖ it
• Startups incubate concepts and discover
products, Telcos need to invest a similar
way. Plan two years of risk before
expecting good things
• Think about the larger value picture…not
about squeezing more out of old models
46. Digital Infrastructure
• Telco’s can go industrial faster and jump to the right
infrastructure
• Invest in the future or prepare to be a dumb pipe
(which might be fine, too)
• Voice and text will have near zero value soon…
only connectivity and new services matter
• Break down the technical walls that prevent you
from taking advantage of the opportunities
49. Telco-OTT: Challenges
• NAT issues
– Media routing difficult in ―all‖
cases
– No media
– 1-way media
• Consistent user experience
– Goal is provide a consistent
user experience over disparate
networks
• Mobile/Tablet, desktop
– Devices / OSs have different
challenges of their own
– Mobiles/Tablet require support
for Wi-Fi and Mobile broadband
networks
• Want to be like Skype
CounterPath www.counterpath.com 49
50. Telco-OTT: How TSM can help from a Softphone POV
• Creates an SSL tunnel –
signaling and media to go
over a single tunnel
– Less complicated
– Local media can be run locally
• Enabling a consistent user
experience
– Overcome Internet restrictions
– Combines the SIP/RTP over a
single connection (i.e., ports 80
or 443)
• Better packet loss
performance
– Redundant data (RTP)
• Secure
– Encrypted (TLS)
CounterPath www.counterpath.com 50
52. Thank you for joining us!
• Thank you for joining us at this FierceLive! Webinar!
• This webinar has been recorded and will be available on-
demand within 24 hours. You will receive a notice when the
recording is up.
Presenter: