Telecom Lead America: To help telecom service providers compete with over-the-top (OTT) offerings, Amdocs has launched cloud-based Amdocs Unified Communications solution.
The new solution offers messaging services, video and voice over IP (VoIP) calling, inside a service provider-branded app.
Amdocs’ Unified Communications solution enables service providers to launch services to compete with over-the-top (OTT) offerings. The solution can be accessed via iOS and Android device apps or through a web portal.
According to a report in TelecomLead.com, messages business is experiencing slow-downs but more so in emerging markets than developed markets. Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific demonstrated -5.8 percent, -0.7 percent and -0.2 percent declines quarter-on-quarter respectively.
Telecom operators such as Singtel and Vodafone have started to counter OTT apps such as Whatsapp by increasing the quota of bundled SMS their end-users are allocated. Such initiatives may come across as closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. However, there are indications that OTT messaging platforms eclipse SMS in all aspects.
The Cloud solution is compatible with GSMA’s Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard, providing future-proofing, as well as existing social networks, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Maribel Lopez, principal analyst at Lopez Research, says service providers have the opportunity to strengthen their ownership of voice calls to cover VoIP and video conferencing with their own branded solution.
Rebecca Prudhomme, vice president of product and solutions marketing at Amdocs, claims that its Unified Communications is the first brandable, cloud-based solution, offering fast time to market.
