LIVE FROM MOBILE 360 LATIN AMERICA: Jesper Rhode, VP of marketing at Ericsson, highlighted three categories of operator which have seen success in the recent past, each of which is taking a different route to achieve a strong position in the market.

In the first camp are operators who are driven by performance: “they base their brand on the efficiency of the network – it’s always about performance,” he said. This means network speed and coverage are important differentiators.

While these companies focus on the performance of their infrastructure, this does not necessarily mean they are the first to launch a new technology. For example, an early, but piecemeal, 4G rollout could impact their reputation for quality, damaging the core value of the brand.

The second group, the Ericsson executive continued, “focus on the market”. This means that they “think and develop very cleverly their sales channels” – in addition to using multiple paths to market themselves, they are also likely to have wholesale activities and work with MVNOs.

The final cohort identified by Rhode was “those who focus on the content of their proposals”.

This type of operator is most likely to add new types of service propositions and content to their tariffs, and to bundle additional services. This also includes content acquisition strategies – the example of BT’s sport deal earlier this year was highlighted – and players in this category may also offer network-independent ‘over-the-top’-type services.