LIVE FROM COMMUNICASIA 2013: Operators face being diverted from understanding the key success factors in the evolving industry by issues such as “owning” the customer and a future of being “dumb pipe” providers, according to Martijn Blanken, managing director of Telstra Global.

“Core telco basics will always remain. The best way to achieve success is by focusing on customer experience to achieve financial outperformance and working in concert with partners,” he argued.

“Getting the basic elements right, like having solid network coverage, is a pre-requisite to success, along with ensuring secure and high-quality services,” he continued.

Echoing comments made by David Thodey, Telstra’s CEO, earlier this year, Blanken continued the theme that so-called over-the-top players should not purely be seen as a threat by telcos.

“Of course, OTT will eat into the revenue of retail telcos and these organsiations must fight hard in these markets to maintain their position. But in other markets OTT providers should be helped. They are driving utilisaion on networks and platforms and are actually boosting revenue,” he said.

“There are many examples where incumbents are stuck between a rock and a hard place. I believe that for those markets where you can’t win, wholesale is better than no sale,” Blanken said.