A conference on trends in telecommunications and media was held on Jan. 22 in Zagreb in cooperation between a magazine Lider and auditing company PricewaterhouseCoopers. The conference gathered a respectable number of participants from the given industries. It offered interesting lectures, exclusive opinions given by leaders of telecom companies, media and entertainment. In addition, a round table was organized where leaders of the above industries in Croatia participated.
Rolf Meakin, the head of the advisory team for the telecom segment in PricewaterhouseCoopers, presented the current situation and major trends in the industry. Thus, it is believed that by end of 2014 we will witness some 700 million Smartphone users, worldwide. It is also expected that the amount of mobile expenditures will triple over the next three years. Regarding the major the changes in geopolitical power distribution, changes became obvious not only globally, but in this market too. In addition, the Facebook generation has been growing up with an impact to the industry, and new services and business models. M-commerce has been growing considerably, and the number of devices with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology has considerably increased. This technology offers an alternative mode of payment that will surely be more and more present in the future. Omnipresent high speed networks offer their users new opportunities, and in the period to come, not only speed will count, but even more intelligent networks too. The domination of digital ecosystem results in even greater impact to traditional services, such as IT, media and entertainment, telecom operators, retail sales and financial services have experienced shift to digital income. The new generation of cloud services, has been more and more reliable and it is expected that in future, some 80 percent of applications will be in a cloud.
Dejan Ljuština, a specialist in telecom sector of PricewaterhouseCoopers, presented the conference participants trends in media. In the next three years, media will grow at the slowest rate in the North America and Europe, at the reasonable rate in BRIC countries, and the fastest growth will be witnessed in the “Golden” countries, certain African and Asian countries. The advertising will grow at the highest rate in the Internet, video games and TV sector. It is expected that in 2016 digital and TV advertising will be at the equal level. Further on, the presenter dealt with annual opinion research of the management board directors in the area of telecommunications, media and entertainment that was conducted 16th time in a row, among more than 13 hundred respondents from 68 countries. The majority of them believe in the income growth in the coming three year period. Nevertheless, they have been concerned about economic and political instability worldwide. The heads of all listed industries have been focused to customer needs, with the simultaneous increase of cost effectiveness, regaining the trust in the industry and better cooperation with government institutions.
The second part of the conference was dedicated to the round table with the topic “Development of telecom sector, media and technology in Croatia, and the region” with the participants such as Gordana Kovačević, the president of Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Mladen Pejković, VIPnet CEO and CTO, Ivica Mudrinić, T-HT CEO, Goran Radman, the new head of HRT, and Rolf Meakin. The round table discussions were headed by Dejan Ljuština and Miodrag Šajatović, Lider editor-in-chief.
Gordana Kovačević underlined ICT industry as the driving force of economy growth. She also mentioned the growing importance of innovative services developed in Ericsson Nikola Tesla e-health and m-health service. She pointed out the permanent organizational adjustment to market changes and the need for new organizational and business models: “In the permanent transformation process, in convergence and huge dynamics within the ICT sector, with focus to users, contents and the quality of user’s experience (QoE), various models of consolidation among operators will be present, such as merging and acquisitions, collaborations among operators and OTT players, ICT solution suppliers, as well as a diversification and partnerships among various vertical industries, which means several parties partner associations. ICT plays a leading role in the networked society development and creates opportunities for innovativeness and cooperation.”
Ericsson Nikola Tesla president confirmed that operators in Croatia have been investing, but the circumstances require quicker decision making and greater investments: “Our company is a large one, and Croatian market is not enough to us, so we are forced to export. The company is a technological leader in almost all segments, and we have intensified our steps towards M2M communications. Ericsson Nikola Tesla has witnessed stable business operations, and has not been burdened by the profit. Our smart investments have been oriented to education and employment of specialists and introduction of new technologies into business operations, as well”
Experts from PWC came to a conclusion, in common with –the round table participants, that ICT is the best industry in Croatia, and that companies within themselves should find reserves of funds for investment into technological rebuilding, which would be a strong encouragement to the economy as a whole.
Company Communications Ericsson Nikola Tesla
