Why Mobile Operators and MVNOs should take control of air conditioning and introduce SmartAirCon IoT device as a way to reduce churn & increase ARPU
There is no doubt the hottest topic being debated in climate policy in 2017 is how the US Government had decided to leave the Paris Climate Accord — COP21 and what form of sustainable energy and technology innovations could really help various city administrators to reduce the use of electricity and to reduce the overall carbon footprint. At the 2016 GSMA Global Device Summit — MWCS16, our company’s Mr. Daniel Chun had presented how mobile operators and MVNOs could extend their market reach in controlling the home electronics
(A link to the video presentation could be found here https://youtu.be/XkE991nDzws) and be involved in air conditioning around the world by way of introducing a new form of Smart IoT device that could enhance the user experience in monitoring and controlling the air-conditioners in homes and offices; and benefit from a new disruptive business model to reduce churn and to increase ARPU.
On the subject of achieving sustainable consumption of our resources, we advocate the need to find a better way to promote the sustainable use of air conditioning. This is a global phenomenon, countries are getting wealthier and each could afford air conditioning and reports from South America and South-East Asia — have all reported this growing trend. Our world is getting hotter and in many Asian countries, we are already experiencing some of the record- breaking highest mean temperature.
Most mobile operators and MVNOs have been investing into the research and development of smart home solution for their end customers. Research has shown that although this segment is growing, it is still short of creating a large impact to the ARPU. In particular, there is a clear service and product gap (hence opportunity) in targeting the rather large air-conditioners installed base as the market entry point for smart home. This document intends to highlight a different perspective in the go-to-market strategy for this growing smart home segment.
The market is currently fragmented with companies like Xiaomi, TP-Link and Broadlink all come up with some form of Infrared-based controllers and claimed the convenience of controlling all the consumer electronics like TV, fans and air-conditioners at home, however the growth is far from exciting. This is because these products have not really be planned to become part of a business model of a mobile operator or MVNO’s customer retention and acquisition strategy.
We believe our SmartAirCon IR Motedem which promotes the re-use of a spare smartphone or tablet PC fits well as the best strategy for mobile operators and MVNOs to enter this smart home market space.
When most mobile operators look to renewing any customer’s contract, every customer is somewhat used to receiving a subsidy on a new smartphone. In fact a huge value is attached to the ability to reuse the old smartphone or tablet PC by offering another SIM card, or may be even a new IoT data plan, and to renew the contract by giving away or subsidizing our SmartAirCon IR Motedem.
SmartAirCon IR Motedem is developed specifically with this in mind to complement a mobile operator or MVNO’s strategy to target the living environment of mobile users with good value proposition. The IR Motedem, which collects room temperature and intelligently control your air conditioners and fans, to achieve optimum comfort and convenience. Additional convenience like offsite and schedule operation could be done so by reusing a spare smartphone or tablet PC playing as the host gateway.
Remotec Technology Limited is a company that had designed and manufactured infrared remote controllers for over 25 years and this kind IR code library expertise could now complement a mobile carrier and MVNO in co- creating a smart IoT ecosystem. Speaking as a mobile telecom veteran, our Mr. Daniel Chun highlighted the fact that when mobile operators and MVNOs have such a high cost to maintain their infrastructure and distribution channel, there is a pressing need for business managers and directors at mobile carriers and MVNOs to think outside of the box to develop a Blue Ocean Strategy for reducing churn, and gaining a new income model, and sustain the development of a big data strategy of enabling air conditioning and other consumer devices at a mobile users’ home.
Why air conditioning should be adopted as a smart home and smart office strategy? The answer is straight forward, this is the single electrical appliance item that many residential and small office will have for indoor climate and temperature control and one that is generally not well connected to our Internet or mobile services. In developed economies and emerging markets alike, the demand of new installation of air conditioners are experiencing high growth.
Is this the right time to enter the Smart Home space for MVNOs and create that Blue Ocean Strategy ? Absolutely.
Visit us at Booth W5.H48 at GSMA Mobile World Congress Shanghai SNIEC