If their customers have apps for that, they'll lose share.
Research firm Analysys Mason claims that if operators don't invest in mobile contents and apps, they risk losing customers to their rivals.
It's put figures on this too, claiming that $27 billion in annual voice, SMS and data revenues will shift between operators as a result of subscriber churn due to 'MCA'.
"We estimate that a mobile network operator in a developed market that has a 35% market share of subscribers would lose 4% of its market share over the following five years if it halted investment in its MCA proposition," says Analysys Mason's Jim Morrish.
The report's point is that the potential loss to an operator if they don't invest in mobile content and apps is bigger than the money they might make from this content.
But hang on, aren't all mobile operators suffering because the big investment in apps and content is now coming from Apple, Google, Nokia, RIM and other platform/handset companies?
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Analysis Mason thinks that there is an opportunity for operators to make hay from this area with "multi-platform plays that either take the differentiating qualities of exclusive content in a fixed environment and apply them to a mobile environment, or that include the synchronisation and management of content and information across both fixed and mobile environments."
Cross-platform app stores and cloud services, to put it less wordily. Although Analysys Mason admits that the latter category is also under threat from Google.
Still, Analysys' warning to operators is clear, as voiced by Morrish. "Some elements of an MCA proposition should potentially be regarded as loss leaders – ‘super applications’ that are core to engaging the consumer."
