Carriers need to adapt to Internet-dependent ‘millennial generation’ that ‘lives online’

TORONTO—Telecom carriers need to adapt to a new reality in which the “millennial generation”—people between the ages of 12 and 24—is accustomed to a world in which they are always connected, said a panel of experts at the 2010 Canadian Telecom Summit. Kaan Yigit, founder and president of the Solutions Research Group, said at the 2010 Canadian Telecom Summit that he recently met a young woman at a conference who told him she doesn’t just use the Internet. “I live on the Internet,” she said. Yigit, who took part in a panel Wednesday called “the Broadband Connected Home,” said the sentiment is common among young people who feel a strong need to be constantly connected. He said a study conducted by his firm found that 56 per cent of people in the millennial generation agree with the statement, “I live on the Internet.” “They use words like ‘feeling lost,’ ‘disoriented,’ ‘dazed,’ ‘panic,’ ‘inadequate,’ ‘tense,’ ‘empty’ . So you are seeing this kind of dependency with that age group,” Yigit said. Demand for content at any time, any place is making it difficult for carriers to keep up, Robert Watson, president and CEO of SaskTel, said on the panel. “We cannot keep up with the consumer,” Watson said Wednesday. “And I don’t believe carriers will be able to keep up unless we stay ahead of the curve.” Sean Seaton, director of the communications sector with Microsoft Canada, moderated the panel and said the telecom industry is entering a new, end-user era where consumers will have more control over the online experience. “We are now entering the end-user or consumer era, for the next generation to come,” Seaton said. “We find at Microsoft, without a doubt, that this is the fundamental anchor defining the landscape for decisions, the landscape for investments, partnerships, and new business models for which we have yet to conclude on.” Dave Caputo, president and CEO of Sandvine Inc., a Canadian network policy control solutions company, said telecom service providers are responding by tracking and managing the traffic that passes through their networks. Caputo said companies should look more carefully at tiered prices for wireless data packages serving laptops, smart phones, and cellphones. “Many service providers around the world sell the exact same data package to all three of these users,” Caputo said. “Once you develop subscriber personas, you can really market and get the high-valued ARPU from each of these users by selling them different bandwidth tiers.” Phil Hartling, senior vice-president of consumer marketing with Rogers Communications Inc., said on the panel that carriers must be willing to “cannibalize” platforms to move on to the latest technology and keep up with consumer demands. “Be prepared to cannibalize yourself,” Hartling said. “It’s something that Ted Rogers always used to say, because if you’re doing your job right, you’re thinking about the next technology, the next solution that is going to replace the one you just built. If you’re not the one cannibalizing yourself someone is going to cannibalize you.” Hartling said branding remains important when companies can make themselves unique and relevant enough to warrant customer loyalty. He said simplicity and intuitiveness should be priorities when designing the technologies people interact with every day. “They want their content where they want it, when they want it, on any device, on any screen, and it’s the carrier’s problem or the provider’s problem to get it there.” Hartling said. “It should just work. Design should be intuitive. I don’t want to read a manual. It has to be simple, easy and straightforward. It needs to simplify my life, and also, it’s personal.” jmigneault@thewirereport.ca

Carriers need to adapt to Internet-dependent ‘millennial generation’ that ‘lives online’

Broadcast | June 9, 2010

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