Consumers feel that mobile operators would be more proficient in providing Over-The-Top (OTT) services than current OTT providers, according to a recent survey. The study was carried out across the UK, the USA and Europe for telecoms software specialist OpenCloud by market research agency YouGov.
Respondents were asked if they felt that an operator-run service would outperform one delivered by an OTT provider. Those that favoured one over the other were largely in favour of mobile operators. However, consumers saw OTT providers as much more innovative than operators.
In addition, 60% of consumers were undecided whether an OTT service provider or a mobile operator was able to deliver the best voice and video communication services.
In total, over a third of adults in the survey used OTT services, with 52% using their phone to access these applications.
Jonathan Bell, Vice President of Product Marketing at OpenCloud, said “The general consensus across the industry has been that the increasing popularity of OTT services, such as Skype, has marked the death knell for core voice communication services provided by mobile operators. While OTT services have definitely won market-share, this survey indicates that they have failed to win consumers’ hearts and minds. That battle is by no means over. There's a clear opportunity for someone to gain dominance in the market.”
OTT refers to services that aren’t controlled by a network operator, such as Voice-over-IP and streaming video.