Most cable and broadband operators are fairly optimistic about the potential impact of over-the-top services, suggests a new global survey, with 70% saying the potential benefits outweigh the risks. The results were part of a survey of operators in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa conducted by Incognito Software, a provider of broadband software provisioning and service activation solutions.
The study also found that nearly 82% of respondents have already upgraded their network infrastructure to cope with increased subscriber bandwidth usage and that 75% of the providers that reported a growth in bandwidth consumption attributed the increased demand to streaming video sites. In terms of managing OTT consumption, the survey found that the most popular approach was fair usage policies (40%), followed by bandwidth caps (34 percent), and proprietary OTT services (22%), the company reports.
Nearly half of the providers in North America utilize bandwidth caps as their primary means of managing OTT. Fair usage and service add-ons are the next most common approaches (33%).
“The widespread growth and popularity of OTT content across multiple devices is forcing cable operators to rethink their business models and how best to add value to their subscribers – and the survey results show that there is no single answer when looking at operators of different sizes and across multiple geographies,” said Stephane Bourque, president and CEO of Incognito Software. “Whether operators take a positive or negative view of OTT content, one thing is constant: their network usage is going to increase.”
