Chetan Sharma has a great recent post on carrier strategy. He advises that over 50% of the market comes with partnering with just 10 worldwide operators. However, trying to partner with smaller operators is more likely to be successful and provide a proof of concept for the larger operators.

Wanting to partner with a number of operators is one thing. Actually doing it is very difficult. I wrote a little about partnering with operators in my ‘It’s Who You Know’ post. The biggest problem I am seeing at the moment in the current economic climate is people moving on. As soon as you have developed an understanding with someone that an agreement is ‘pending’, they move on to another job or company destroying trust that has been built up.

In some cases in the past I have seen it’s sensible to try to talk with more than one person (usually their boss) in the same department of a particular carrier (or handset OEM) so as to minimise the chances of disruptions due to your contact leaving. Trying to include their boss in the meetings also helps to crystallise whether the opportunity is real or just a figment of someone’s imagination.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Mobile, Network Operators. Both comments and pings are currently closed.