The notion of monetising data is not new for Communications Service Providers. An increasing number of CSP’s are monetising subscriber and Big Data in their corporate growth strategy. Others are assessing their options and some of the most advanced companies have set up new divisions targeted at exploiting Big Data.
For most CSP’s the question of how and to what level they will co-operate with OTT providers remains unanswered. On the one hand, these companies represent a major source of threat to operator revenues. On the other, they could be a key buyer of operator subscriber data. This article examines how CSP’s are exploiting subscriber data, the tensions that exists between CSP’s and OTT players and what OTT players actually want from CSPs.