Take the example of the iMode for the Japan

Jean-Luc Cyrot is partner in the consulting firm Arthur d. Little, in charge of the telecoms-media Paris Office pole, and directs the annual Arthur d. Little study on the market of telecoms in Europe.

The general public and the professional world differently using the mobile terminals

Generally, mobility has created a proliferation of terminals and therefore an increase in applications. In the general public, what matters is the customization of the machine. It was always on itself and you put all of his personal data. In the professional world, which bonus this is nomadism: able to work everywhere, both within the company ("in-site") as outside. This target destination, publishers have developed for application related to specific trades, such as logistics, or some vertical applications.

How are companies responding

Companies are more rational in their equipment than the general public. They invest because they have understood that it allowed to have their staff always at disposal. With the nomadic work, there is a common interest for the employee and the company. But be careful that this does not become a wire to the leg.

How mobile operators understand the market

Historically, the business market is very oriented to fixed telephony, with problems of integration of telecom infrastructure in the information system. For a long time, mobile telephony companies represented only a small part of 10-15 of the turnover of operators, with unit margins lower than on the public. But this proportion is bulging with the development of the data mobile. Via PCMCIA, keys 3 G cards, but especially with BlackBerry, since on this terminal client pay for the data sent. Today, 80 of the turnover data (excluding SMS) are made with the companies. But, thanks to the development of the mobile Internet, the part of the general public goes back. In any event, the data mobile business is a growth factor for operators.

But, overall, the enterprise telephony market seems back...

Indeed, this market is declining. We conducted a study on SMEs with 6 to 500 employees that shows that between 2007 and 2009, the overall turnover decline of 1. The fall is high on the fixed communications ( 7) and fixed subscriptions ( 4), and it is not completely offset by subscriptions on mobile ( 4) and the data Internet ( 2).

What may be the strategy of the operators to stem the decline

The operators have to seize opportunities. Indeed, in this world of mobility, the concern of businesses is access to their system via secure connections. These solutions are quite expensive to deploy. For operators, there is therefore a growth relay. This is why they want to intervene more in the value chain and that they enrich their offerings to professionals. Today, operators want avoid the SSII subcontractors. They seek rather to interact directly with the companies. Finally, if the margins made by operators on major groups are weak, because the latter negotiate very firmly, it is easier to fix rates for SMEs, which have less bargaining power.

Will the current financial crisis have an impact on the market of mobile telephony

The financial crisis is likely to have more impact on the professional market on the consumer market, because the market is more rational. If companies must reduce their costs, they will not hesitate to reduce some subscriptions. However, in the general public, this does not occur in the same way. Take the example of the iMode for the Japan. It is at the time when the country was in crisis that it has developed.