SAP Survey at Mobile World Congress 2013 Reveals New Services Will Drive Adoption of LTE

SAP NEWSBYTE - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced the findings of its third consecutive GSMA Mobile World Congress survey, which found that industry leaders believe improved data speed for customers (36 percent) and offering new IP-based services (30 percent) are the primary drivers for operators launching LTE services. The survey is aimed at addressing top issues facing the mobile ecosystem and reflects the sentiments of mobile operators, fixed telecommunication providers, over-the-top (OTT) players and other global mobile industry executives,

Survey results predict that new IP-based services will also be a main driver of revenue for operators in 2013. Fifty-eight percent of respondents believe that new offerings, including rich communication services (RCS) and 4G/LTE and increased data usage by smartphone users, will drive operator revenue. Key sources of revenue for operators differed across regions, with around one-third of respondents based in Europe and North America reporting that offering new services, such as video broadcast and movies on demand, to customers through a 4G network would be the key to generating revenue in 2013. Meanwhile, given the more recent Asia-Pacific smartphone boom, findings showed that 40 percent of Asia-based respondents placed much greater significance on increased data usage by smartphone users.

"Leaders across the mobile industry believe that new IP-based services, such as our recently announced SAP Rich Communication Services 365 mobile service, will be key to driving LTE adoption," said Diarmuid Mallon, lead, Global Mobile Marketing Programs, SAP. "The survey results provide a roadmap for operators looking to expand their customer service portfolio through high speed 4G LTE networks."

The lack of compatible devices continued to be an issue for mobile operators rolling out LTE offerings. Twenty-six percent of respondents in this year's survey cited device incompatibility as a major obstacle, echoing the 29 percent who considered incompatibility a barrier in the 2012 Mobile World Congress survey. Additionally, 20 percent of respondents indicated that a lack of support for roaming would remain an issue. Despite these challenges, the industry has made headway, with only 19 percent of global respondents citing lack of consumer awareness as the biggest barrier to LTE uptake. SAP is working to increase support for global roaming and drive LTE connectivity worldwide.

SAP Mobile Services, a division of SAP, is a global leader in mobile interconnection and mobile consumer engagement services. It provides mobile operators with unparalleled capabilities in global messaging interconnect, data roaming and an array of IPX-based services and enables enterprises to engage with their consumers through innovative mobile marketing and communication solutions. SAP Mobile Services helps businesses process 1.8 billion messages per day, reaching more than 980 operators and 5.8 billion subscribers across 210 countries.

To learn more, download Mobile Operator Guide 2013 at www.sap.com/mobileoperatorguide. For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

About the Survey
The survey was conducted on-site at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, Spain, with responses collected from February 25-26. The survey included 300 respondents, representing a cross-section of attendees, including mobile operators (14 percent), fixed telecommunication operators (12 percent), OTT players (nine percent), vendors (22 percent) and other mobile industry leaders (43 percent). Respondents represented a wide swath of geographies including Europe, the Middle East, Africa (60 percent), the Americas (25 percent) and Asia (15 percent).

Media Contacts:
Scott Malinowski, +1 (617) 538-6297, scott.malinowski@sap.com, EST
Margherita Di Cerbo, +44 207 6485358, margherita.di.cerbo@sap.com, GMT