Amazon is well placed to make an impression on the TV industry globally, thereby making it difficult for small operators to compete.
Speaking in a panel discussion entitled Pressure is on, Jeremy Maddocks, regional director, Russia, CIS, CEE, Middle East, Cisco Systems, said Amazon would gain $130 to $160 to upgrade each customer to Prime.
It would therefore need 6-7 million worldwide – not a large figure, given the world’s population – to generate $1 billion, which it could then invest in TV.
Maddocks added that small operators could address such a scenario by taking the cloud perspective. Although it wouldn’t solve the content issue it could help them to compete.
He also said that operators would need to find differentiation and this is something Cisco could help them with.
