Application Enablement

Application enablement is an approach which brings telecommunications network providers and developers together to combine their network and web abilities in creating and delivering high demand advanced services and new intelligent applications.

Network providers, in addition to bandwidth, provide abilities such as billing, location, presence, and security, which have allowed them to establish long-term relationships with end-users. By offering these select abilities as application programming interfaces (APIs), providers give developers access to a set of tools to create (mashup) new applications and services to run on provider networks. Unifying the strengths of providers and developers facilitates the creation of mash-up applications, and in turn, a better end user quality of experience (QoE) for improved profit margins.

Apple’s iOS with App Store, and Google's Android with Android Market exemplify this approach. Both have introduced mobile platforms that are supported by a comprehensive ecosystem in order to perpetuate innovation in product design, content and service offerings, and overall consumer behavior. By the end of April 2010, downloadable applications numbered over 200,000 for iPhone and over 50,000 for Android.

Historically, telecommunication network providers have focused on the network in their business approach, relying almost exclusively on their network abilities for connectivity, availability and quality of service (QoS) to generate revenue and establish customer value. With the evolution of network and web abilities, consumer demand for bandwidth intensive data and video applications has exploded, requiring significant investment by network providers if they are to maintain current levels of service continuity. To fully leverage such investments, and offset rising operating costs and declining average revenue per user (ARPU) levels, providers must deliver a customer-focused experience and adopt new business models that will broaden revenue opportunities and expand their position in the Telecommunications value chain.

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