Innovating in New Verticals

After network expertise, location-based services (LBS) are the next main component of the new digital lifestyle, and CSPs have a bead on location like no other. Customers have already voted with their wallets: as the plummeting sales of stand-alone GPS devices demonstrate, nothing beats the location capabilities of a smartphone.

Google and Facebook are quickly zeroing in on LBS, but they still rely on coarse triangulation, user interaction or resource-hungry, invasive background services to determine exact locations, and when customers voluntarily share their GPS locations on Facebook, who knows how many third-party applications gain access to this personal data? CSPs, on the other hand, can correlate locations with network conditions and performance, adjust capacity based on the density of devices in a particular area, incorporate subscriber profile data, and much more, forming the basis for a richer service experience.

CSPs are also ahead of the curve in security. High-profile hacks like the one that disabled Sony’s PlayStation Network in April 2011 have revealed the relative permeability of many modern information systems, which is why cybersecurity is a rapidly growing field, one that many analysts believe is the battleground of the future. While a number of companies struggle with the monumental task of securing their ever-increasing virtual borders, CSPs have excelled in this area because of their shared history as a public utility. 

The telecom industry is often chastised for moving too slowly, but security is one example of the tortoise winning the race. Many telecom systems are overengineered and overprotected for one simple reason: to ensure rock-solid, secure reliability. The thought of a home security system—or, worse, a utility grid or public transit—being hacked is chilling. Physical protection of network hardware and, again, end-to-end network visibility are the metaphorical keys to the security locks, and both fall under the domain of the CSP.

Identity has emerged as the fourth primary enabler of the digital lifestyle. When voice was the only service, identity was simply a phone number, but these days a person is forced to remember, or at least keep track of, a seemingly endless number of login names and passwords. Subscription fatigue is a serious problem, and the outlook is even worse when you consider how many new services just over the horizon will require identity management. But the path forward is still unclear.

As with security, CSPs have a proven history here, and must, at the very least, partner with each other to develop an identity standard. Ideally, this prototypical universal subscriber identity would then be virtualized and dynamically modified to construct a highly secure authentication platform, making digital life easier for consumers thanks to biometrically confirmed single-login functionality. But who’s the best steward of digital identity? An unregulated company built on status updates and shaky valuation, or one that specializes in security and is highly regulated to ensure privacy? CSPs must collectively innovate when it comes to subscriber identity management; its importance will only increase in the coming years.