Customer experience firm Amdocs has released the results of Connected World 2010: A Survey of Emerging Markets. The survey explores how the connected world, driven by the demand for ubiquitous connectivity and information anytime, anywhere, will affect service providers and the role they play across Southeast Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Conducted for Amdocs by research firm Frost & Sullivan, the survey was based on interviews with senior business and information technology decision makers in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia. It found that service providers in these regions anticipate that over the next five years the introduction of new services will drive subscriber growth, and that partnerships with internet players and device manufacturers will emerge, alongside the evolution of new revenue models.

Research highlights include:

• Service providers’ roles will evolve: Two thirds of survey participants said they would assume the role of service enabler in the connected world, while the remaining third stated that they will become an “end-to-end experience provider”, expanding their role beyond basic connectivity, providing services such as healthcare, government support, education and mobile payments.
• Consumer desire for connectivity and improvements in devices and network capabilities will drive new business models and partnerships: More than 90 per cent of respondents believe that new models will be required in the connected world, with 50 per cent stating that partnerships are critical. Emerging models highlighted were advertising-based, premium and service-based models, as well as those based on alliances with internet and content providers. Service providers in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe outlined hybrid models in which the cost of services will be shared by consumers and third parties. In Latin America, the ability for consumers to fund services beyond basic voice or SMS will impact models, and it is predicted that advertising-based models will deliver services at affordable rates. 
• Smartphones and new services: Respondents stated that smartphone adoption and advanced services will remain a growth driver for the next five years as networks and infrastructure evolve. This data contrasts Amdocs’ Connected World survey in developed regions conducted by Frost and Sullivan earlier this year, where emerging devices such as M2M, netbooks, e-readers and tablets are capturing the focus. 
• Some form of outsourcing will be required and improved network management is essential: Two-thirds of respondents believe they need to modernize their current operational environments and networks in order to support the demands of the connected world, with 60 per cent citing outsourcing as an appropriate strategy for network services and application management. 60 per cent of service providers identified a strong need for investment in network inventory management, planning and deployment.

“Service providers are transforming their role of the ‘traditional telecom’ and are identifying new strategies and business models to meet the needs of the connected world,” says Amdocs group president, Brian Shepherd. “The survey demonstrates that while markets are in different stages of evolution, it’s clear that advanced network and BSS solutions are required to launch new services, and that the connected world will shape how our industry delivers and monetizes future value.”

You can download the survey results here.