It’s no secret that OTT players have successfully decoupled applications and services from the underlying networks responsible for driving the all-important “customer experience.” As a result, service providers should consider how OTT players like YouTube, Facebook, Amazon and Google can become a critical link back to what has become the disintermediated “traditional” customer” – the end consumer of communications and data services.

For example, in the “Verizon versus AT&T: Whose iPhone is better?” debate, end users care about the quality of experience enabled by the device and the apps available on the device. Their loyalties will sway according to which network optimizes their devices’ performance.

Since the telco brand is not directly tied to the devices and apps, but rather indirectly, it is important to cultivate that “indirect” link and open it to monetization by nurturing the OTT relationship. After all, service providers have the technological and business know-how to enrich OTT apps and services with differentiating capabilities (like speed boosts during gaming or video downloads).

Service providers have an opportunity to monetize the service level agreement (SLA)- and quality of service (QoS)-driven capabilities OTT players would otherwise struggle to create on their own.

There exists a universe of untapped services for both consumers and enterprises if operators consider OTT players their new “customers” as opposed to their competitors.

To read more about nurturing the OTT players as a revenue-rich customer base, go to the Tekelec white paper “New Diameter Network: Over-the-Top, Clouds and Machines.“