Wireless industry must ’embrace’ data monetization, says Bell’s Oosterman

STRATFORD, Ont.—The wireless industry must embrace data monetization as traffic from new mobile devices increases broadband access and congests networks, says Wade Oosterman, president of Bell Mobility and chief brand officer at Bell Canada. Oosterman, who participated in a panel discussion Monday about the future of mobility at the Canada 3.0 conference, hosted by the Canadian Digital Media Network and the University of Waterloo, said monetization of data is becoming increasingly important in the new environment. “The industry has to embrace monetizing data, because at some point you’re going to have two massive collisions between available capacity and capacity wanted by users,” he said. “We have to get that balance a little better because we need to recognize that Canada is a massive landmass for a relatively small population.” Internet service providers (ISPs) and wireless carriers continue to struggle with approaches to data usage on networks accessed through wireline Internet and mobile wireless. Although most carriers charge retail customers based on their data usage, new wireless carrier Wind Mobile, like some American carriers, has launched in Canada with “unlimited” data plans (they have exceptions). Multinational British mobile network operator Vodafone Group plc announced last week that it will drop its “fair usage” policy and charge customers who exceed monthly data limits. For wireline broadband access, ISPs appear to be moving increasingly toward charging retail customers for exceeding data usage caps. Oosterman’s call for the monetization of data comes after a CRTC decision last week that will permit Bell Canada to bill its wholesale Internet customers based on their data usage. According to the decision, however, Bell can only apply usage-based billing to its wholesale customers once usage-based billing is in place for every one of its retail customers. Charlotte Burke, entrepreneur-in-residence at BDC Venture Capital, also took part in Monday’s panel, and predicted that the industry will move toward the monetization of data. As more mobile applications are offered to consumers, the market will adapt and shift to specialization and vertical integration, she said. “We’re going to see an evolution in the distribution system and more, say, on monetization,” she said. Brady Gilchrist, president and founder of AdModo Group, said Canada is on the verge of an explosion of mobile application offerings as new tactile technologies like the iPad are developed. “We are poised at a massive explosion of possibility and creativity that will shift paradigms. We’re at the beginning of it right now. We haven’t even seen the beginning of ,” he told the panel. While some panelists debated Gilchrist’s idea of an explosion of applications arising from faster networks and IP-enabled devices, Gilchrist said the best applications will reach the top of the pile and survive due to hype generated through social networks. “The market will never buy garbage,” he said. “But when you do create an amazing product, because we have social networks and media and massive user connections between people, you get a network effect that brings the cream to the surface very quickly.” Mark Pecen, vice-president of advanced technology at Research in Motion (RIM), said Canada’s economy would benefit from increased government funding for early-stage startups. Pecen said he considers funding for startups as the first priority for the mobile industry, adding that he hopes funding will be part of Canada’s upcoming digital economy strategy. “A lot of startups are going to fail, but the ones that turn into the next Open Text or RIM are going to be creating new jobs. You create more jobs and the money goes back to the government,” he said. “We have got to have some funding to commercialize these things.” Despite Pecen’s assessment, the panel could not agree on the need to keep application development a Canadian undertaking. Oosterman and panelist Duncan Stewart, technology, media and telecommunications director of research for Deloitte Canada, said applications should be looked at on a global scale. “ matters to the person creating the content,” Oosterman said. “Does Canadian content matter? Sometimes enormously, but broadly speaking, no. You have to look at it as a global market,” Stewart said. kfournier@thewirereport.ca

Wireless industry must ’embrace’ data monetization, says Bell’s Oosterman

Broadcast | May 11, 2010

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