Over the past five years the telecommunications industry has seen phenomenal growth. Later this year, GSM, the original standard will come of age, celebrating its 21st birthday by carrying more than 16 billion minutes of calls and 6 billion texts in over 200 generating $3 billion (1.36% of the worlds GDP). Customers are hungry for fast and effective 24/7 connectivity and the ways and means of satiating the appetite grow almost exponentially on the back of wave after wave of technological advancement.

But the world’s apparent dependency on Telecoms may well soon be tested as a number of market conditions conspire to take this massively competitive field into uncharted territory. The emergence of $10 handsets by 2009 and the inevitable evolution from outdoor to indoor networks are the kind of breakthroughs that are required to further increase penetration to a market where saturation may become a reality. The continuing pressures of regulation, most recently demonstrated by the European Commission’s stated goal of cutting call connectivity by up to 70% is just one of many catalytic factors adding to the squeeze.

Forcing individuals and organisations to re evaluate their telecoms spend in current conditions represents a clear and present risk to the industry. The ability to absorb cost increases and protecting the consumer from inflated prices will be a key characteristic of the new market leaders.  

A Corporate Information solution from Williams Lea offers Telecoms providers opportunities on two fronts. The first being a guaranteed route to cost reduction and improvement in operational efficiency. The second, being the freedom to focus single-mindedly on key strategic priorities, unburdened by the administration of none core corporate information administration and management functions.