LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE 360-MIDDLE EAST: A focus on improving end user experience will be one of the key factors for mobile broadband success, Bob Cai, VP of Wireless Network Marketing at Huawei, said this morning.

“In the past 20 years, the industry has mainly focused on increasing the volume of end users. We think for the next 20 years, the focus will be improving the user experience. We know that normally 20 per cent of end users contribute 80 per cent of the revenue. So how to satisfy them is key to success,” he said in a keynote presentation.

The executive also noted that spectrum will remain a key consideration: “Competition between operators will depend on how much spectrum they have,” Cai observed.

And a reduced total cost of ownership for networks will also be critical in enabling companies to achieve higher returns from their investments. “As an industry, we will continue to drive TCO reduction, but of course on the other hand we have to think of ways to increase the revenue and profit,” he said.

Cai also said that Huawei is working to enable operators to open their networks to new products and services, both of their own and those of partners such as OTT players.

“Operators have the location information, and the user information, they have QoS information. So how can we open those capabilities to third-parties, or even operators themselves, to generate new business models? That is something we are aiming to do,” he said.