LTE to boost subscriber data management market

CAMPBELL, CALIFORNIA: The global subscriber data management (SDM) market, including SDM software and services for mobile and fixed line networks, reached $570 million in 2011, up 57 per cent from 2010, reports market research firm Infonetics Research.

In its latest Subscriber Data Management Software and Services report the research firm also forecasts the SDM software and services market to grow to $1.86 billion by 2016, driven increasingly by network modernization initiatives, particularly LTE deployments, which are prompting mobile operator interest in the separation of back-end SDM databases from front-end applications to consolidate subscriber data.

Infonetics' year-ago SDM forecast was within one per cent of actual 2011 results.

"As SDM strategies evolve and mature, operators are increasingly viewing subscriber data as a way to differentiate themselves from Web providers and other players, particularly in the app store space, where subscriber data may just be the killer API," posits Shira Levine, directing analyst, next gen OSS and policy, Infonetics Research.

Rapid subscriber growth remains a key driver in the Asia Pacific market (and is starting to play a role in Latin America as well), where mobile operators like Bharti and NTT DoCoMo have used SDM software to help manage subscriber growth, simplify new subscriber provisioning, reduce SIM card fraud, and manage subscribers with multiple SIM cards.

Operators in the EMEA region continue to lead the SDM opportunity, with mobile operators in Western Europe, particularly Vodafone, Orange, and Telecom Italia, among the first to deploy SDM.

"Though there has been considerable interest among operators over the last year in making network assets like location, presence, and messaging available to third party developers for the creation of new services, operators are recognizing that their most valuable asset may well be their subscriber data, including network and IT data specific to them."

SDM investments are increasingly being driven by network modernization initiatives, particularly 4G LTE deployments, in turn driving operator interest in the separation of back-end SDM databases from front-end applications to consolidate subscriber data.

SDM will play a key role in operators' offload strategies by supporting subscriber preferences and entitlements regardless of which network is actually carrying the subscriber's traffic.

Traditional SDM vendors are facing intensified competition from IT players like Oracle and Amdocs, who are looking to leverage their capabilities in master data management (MDM).