Ovum recently spoke at the Metaswitch Forum 2011 about the role of apps in telcos’ future strategies. Two of the recurrent themes at the event were the future of voice, and the increasing availability of third-party communication apps that enable users to make calls and send SMSes.

These types of apps present a significant threat to operators as they can damage telcos’ revenue streams and undermine the intimate relationship that telcos have with their customers. To counter this threat, telcos are launching their own apps, deploying browser-based communication clients, and offering rich communication suite (RCS) and unlicensed mobile access (UMA) solutions.

While white-label, customizable apps from companies such as Metaswitch can make it easy for operators to deploy these solutions, telcos must make sure that they understand the risks that they pose to their existing businesses.

Ten years ago, Vonage’s plan to offer cheap VoIP calls caused alarm bells to ring for fixed telcos. After exploring and abandoning plans to block voice over IP (VoIP), many fixed telcos used two coordinated strategies to overcome the threat. Firstly, the telcos moved from per unit pricing to access and volume pricing. Secondly, the poor availability of naked DSL solutions meant that the price differential that underpinned the business models of Vonage and other third-party VoIP providers collapsed.

Mobile operators are currently in a similar position to the fixed operators of ten years ago as third-party VoIP providers look to move in on their territory. WhatsApp has had a significant impact on the Netherlands mobile market, and other companies such as Skype, Viber, and Ping are looking to have the same impact on other mobile markets around the world.

In response to this threat, mobile operators have adopted two strategies. First, they have introduced larger call and SMS bundles to undermine the price differential between their voice services and third-party voice apps. Second, they have scrapped “unlimited” data bundles for tiered pricing, which has made it more expensive for customers to extensively use their mobile devices for VoIP calls.

However, the increasing availability of free Wi-Fi is a game changer. The popularity of home zone tariffs demonstrates that many customers frequently use their mobile phones at home and in the office, which are both places where customers are also likely to have access to free Wi-Fi. Using third-party communication apps over free Wi-Fi makes it easy for customers to make free calls, send free SMSes, and incorporate “presence” in ways that are beyond the control of mobile telcos.

Our forthcoming Innovation Radar reports, which examine the new innovations launched by telcos in the first half of 2011, found that telcos such as Lime in the Caribbean, Play in Poland, O2 in the UK, and Rogers in Canada have all launched their own communication apps, web-phones, and UMA solutions.