Wholesale carriers need to partner smartly to grow the business, and look to the mobile sector for clues on how to move forward, experts said Tuesday.
Partnership was a recurring theme during the opening sessions at Capacity Asia in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday among wholesale carriers as they discussed growth opportunities for Asia.
“It’s a good time to be a wholesaler in Asia, as long as we partner and don’t eat each other’s lunch,” said Diarmid Massey, VP of Carrier Services, Global Markets, at Cable & Wireless Worldwide, during a wholesale panel session.
Andrew Kwok, senior VP of International Business at Hutchison Global Communications, agreed, though with the caveat that finding a good partner is difficult for carriers.
“It’s like trying to find a good wife. Everyone wants to be your girlfriend but maybe she’s only looking at your Mercedes,” he said.
The key to partnerships is in understanding where wholesale fits in the evolving IP-driven ecosystem, particularly in regards to mobile Internet, said Massey.
“I think we’re in danger of losing track of who’s driving the demand. It’s our kids. They’re driving more demand with their mobile devices than enterprises are with videoconferencing,” he said, adding that this was true in both developed and developing markets.