LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS SHANGHAI 2015: Describing mobile identity – whether for access, security or privacy – as an “increasingly complex challenge” with the power to “make or break the user experience”, Mary Clark, CMO of Syniverse, told Mobile World Live that operators can use it to “re-intermediate” themselves in the mobile ecosystem.

She believes operators can use mobile identity to unlock new revenue paths by leveraging three key assets – existing relationships with subscribers; contextual information about those subscribers; and the ability to connect with those subscribers on a global basis – to create new avenues.

These avenues include service validation, fraud protection and assurance and secure enterprise mobility.

Of these, she believes the greatest potential lies in service validation which is about providing strong, multi-factor authentication for next generation service access and payments to the myriad of OTTs, app companies and service providers that are leveraging operator networks.

“Users are already deeply engaged with a growing number of OTT apps and services, not to mention their existing relationships with their own operators. As these users travel around the world, service validation becomes increasingly important,” she told Mobile World Live, ahead of her appearance at the ‘Mobile identity solutions’ conference session on Wednesday.

She added that there is also potential in areas like the retail sector, “an enormous global market where brands and organisations are keen to connect and interact with their customers over new mobile channels. Mobile identity will be critical here in allowing users to govern those interactions and make the most of the experience,” she said.

However, Clark warned that operators will need to find an efficient and scalable way to use mobile ID to their advantage and “have the right mechanisms in place that allow end users to maintain the privacy of that contextual data and maximise the value of it with a network of partners”.