Netflix, Amazon, Apple and other media giants were completely unwilling to talk with leading telcos five years ago in the way they do now, according to Stanislav Georgiev, the chairman of Webit Digital Entertainment and Media Summit (DEMS).
Speaking from his experience as head of A1 Group Media Broadcast, a position he held from September 2014 until January this year, he added that their position only changed two years ago and now they are desperate to widen their reach by partnering with telcos. His advice to telcos would now be to take advantage of this situation.
Meanwhile, Ingmar Schmidt, senior TV portfolio manager at Swisscom, speaking in the same panel discussion in Superaggregation at Webit 2019 in Sofia, said that telcos, including Swisscom, are now open to partnerships.
Georgiev also said that telcos do not know how to run TV services and are focussed on broadband. While companies such as Deutsche Telekom are doing an interesting job, TV services in general are not profitable and have to be bundled.
However, a much healthier situation exists in the Middle East than in Europe thanks to the activities of such as the integrated services company du.
