Consumers think mobile video calling services provided by mobile network operators would be better than those provided by third-party ‘over the top’ providers. That’s according to a survey commissioned by telecoms software specialist OpenCloud and carried out by YouGov across the UK, France, Germany and the USA.

Mobile operators were rated as potentially more capable than OTT service providers on four criteria: ease of use, number of contacts reachable, quality of video and use of the service across multiple devices.

Overall, 32% of people covered by the survey used OTT voice or video calling services on any device - and 18% used their mobile phone. Of those people currently using mobile video calling apps, 38% expected their use of video calling to increase over the next year.

When current video call users and non-users were asked whether they’d be interested in video calling services from their operator, a total of 37% showed ‘significant’ interest. 74% of those said they’d be interested in an operator-provided app while 89% would be interested in a ‘native’ experience similar to making a regular voice call.

The survey also showed potential for mobile operators to ‘poach’ existing OTT users: 60% of people already using OTT voice and/or video calling services said they’d be interested in an operator-provided service.

Mark Windle, Head of Marketing at OpenCloud, said “The use of video-calling services is set to grow. Following the launch of 4G, the video-calling market is now up for grabs and OTT services and operators’ Video-over-LTE (VoLTE) services will compete for their share. OTT brands have been successful in offering innovative video-calling, but with consumers appearing to believe that the network operators can now do better there is opportunity for them to regain some lost ground. Operators will need to address both perceived and actual levels of service innovation in a cost-competitive way in order to capitalise on this opportunity.”