For the industry and especially telecom carriers, the explosion of video content creates special challenges and huge opportunities, observes Yang Tao, chief strategy and marketing officer of WEU, Huawei Technologies
A friend from the police recently told me that about 50% of their cases are closed using footage from video surveillance. This percentage will likely rise over the next 2-3 years to almost 90%, as more and more cameras are installed.
Why is this so? 70% of the information we process comes from our eyes. Information delivered by video is thousands of times more effective and impactful than information by voice or text only.
Now, while some may feel uncomfortable with the example I’ve chosen with associations of the surveillance state lingering, the field of video applications in vertical markets has only just begun. What role will video play in the realisation of Smart Cities? Would the success of social media in the interaction of people be the same without the sharing of video? How will my shopping experience on e-commerce sites be enhanced through video?
Even established applications such as video conferencing have not reached their peak, with more and more people globally setting up home offices and connecting with colleagues and customers through conferencing apps.
And what about the emerging landscape of the Internet of Things, where millions of cameras will be used to capture and process data for applications we can’t even imagine today? What about the new generations of smartphones, of wearables, of drones and robots. Video will be everywhere, affecting all aspects of life, and becoming part of everybody’s lifestyle and life experience.
For the industry, and especially the telecom carriers, this explosion of video content creates special challenges, but also huge opportunities. Carrier networks are of course the platforms to transport video streams and applications. This fact remains true even if the video is hosted by one of the many OTT players.
While it’s fair to say that OTT players have changed the video market dramatically, their biggest hurdle to overcome is still the quality of the video experience. Even if codecs and apps have significantly improved over the years, in the end it all comes down to the quality of the underlying networks. This is where carriers continue to play the most important role.
Most carriers around the world have started to realise the potential of video as a future growth driver. Huawei works closely with these carriers, steadily improving the quality of the video experience for the end users, whilst helping to define advanced business models for operators that allow significant returns on their investment. Three business models have emerged:
1.Traffic monetisation to maximising pipe value.
2. Content monetisation as media operators.
3. Building ecosystems to lead the digital landscape.
Needless to say, that we offer this quality/ROI paradigm for mobile networks as well. Our take on this new era of customer video experience is called ROADS: Real-time, On-demand, All-online, DIY, and Social. Welcome to Huawei stand to discuss with us how ROADS can improve your user experience, and exchange viewpoints on video business application and strategies.
