SingTel ranked second behind Vodafone in AsiaPac mobility services

Ovum study crowns the British telco as the region's market leader.

Ovum said that Vodafone Global Enterprise edged out eight other providers, including SingTel, because it offers a comprehensive portfolio of mobility services, which are delivered consistently both in and out of the region.

"It expanded its professional services and consulting capability to offer more customized services, and established a dedicated practice for TEM, UC, managed mobility, and mobile IT, and has increased its mobile footprint in the region through its recent partnership with the Conexus Mobile Alliance," said Ovum in its new study titled "Ovum Decision Matrix: Telco Mobility Services for MNCs in Asia-Pacific."

"Vodafone Global Enterprise is followed closely by SingTel, which has slightly narrowed the gap since our 2011 study. It continues to leverage its significant mobile assets in the region (where it leads the Bridge Alliance), and its managed mobility services, introduced last year, are now maturing," it added.

Ovum’s research also reveals that few enterprises have a single approach to mobility across the entire organization, and that most will continue to have multiple approaches to procuring mobility services for some time. While the bulk of the operational aspects of mobility may still be national, a growing number of MNCs in Asia-Pacific are relying on global providers to manage their services, taking a single global contract for their mobility services.

“Interestingly, when looking to consolidate their services, enterprises are taking the opportunity to do so on a global rather than a regional scale. With the growing demand for global contracts and the decreasing relevance of national footprint, the global challengers have increased their advantage over the regional challengers. The latter have not yet managed to transform their domestic mobility offerings into a solid international proposition,” concludes Castelli.

Ovum’s recent report evaluates providers of enterprise mobility services to multinational corporations (MNCs) in the Asia-Pacific region, and helps businesses to select a provider based on services capability, reputation among customers, vision, long-term commitment, and experience in the marketplace. Ovum asked 170 MNCs in Asia-Pacific about the importance of various aspects of mobility and their sentiments about providers. These priorities and evaluations were taken into consideration in the assessment of providers.

Claudio Castelli, Ovum Senior Analyst, Enterprise Telecoms, says: "With significant variations across providers' portfolios, varied geographical availability, and customers taking a diverse approach to mobility, it is unsurprising that the competitive landscape of mobility services for MNCs in Asia-Pacific is extremely fragmented. MNCs continue to recognize providers with strong presence in major markets, or with significant global presence, as their main international service providers for mobility services, but those with both characteristics have the broadest combination of strengths and score highest."

The market leaders in this study have maintained their strong position over the last year, but the global challengers have increased their focus on mobility services, and are closing the gap. However, with no mobile network assets the global challengers continue to face difficulties in positioning their mobility services, as customers still tend to look at mobile operators as the natural providers of these services.

Ovum considered three main considerations in the ranking -- current capability, strategy and market impact --- and also factored in critical services such as international roaming, remote access, mobile security services, FMC/mobile UC, managed mobility, mobilizing data applications, and emerging M2M services.

The assessment was based on three components: current capability, strategy, and market impact. The capability assessment evaluates telcos' current ability to provide mobility services for MNCs in the region. The strategy assessment evaluates telcos' abilities to act as long-term partners for their customers, including how well they respond to market trends and support the future plans of current and potential customers. And the market impact assessment uses data collected through primary and secondary research to determine telcos' experience in the marketplace for mobility services.