Mobile operators in Western Europe could increase annual data revenues by more than €4 billion (about $5.4 billion) by putting their customers in control, according to Northstream.
Northstream conducted for AsiaInfo-Linkage a study which also identified potential savings of more than €540 million ($730 million) annually in customer care costs.
The research focused on the deployment of Real-time Self Service (RTSS) capabilities that enable subscribers to select and manage their own mobile usage in real time using a smartphone or web interface, and discover and buy new products and services.
“Our research shows that RTSS has a much larger potential impact on data revenue gain than on OPEX savings in both the pre- and post-paid customer bases, yet operators are still focusing on OPEX savings,” said Northstream CEO, Bengt Nordstrom.
Northstream’s research looked in particular at the mobile landscape in Sweden and Italy – two very different contexts in terms of pre-paid and post-paid subscriber ratios, as well as 4G penetration.