Alcatel-Lucent: Europeans less willing to pay for smart home services than Americans

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Tom Van Leeuwen, Product Line Manager at Alcatel-Lucent, answers the following industry questions prior to the 2015 CONNECTIONS Europe event taking place 10-11 November in Amsterdam:

What challenges does Europe face with rolling out new smart home and connected entertainment services?

Willingness to pay in Europe for smart home services is much lower than in the US, while in the area of connected entertainment services Europe is still trailing the US, but catching up. Europe has the advantage of having much higher average broadband speeds than the US, which means that the future for connected entertainment services is bright. Smart home networks are still too complicated to install, manage and still requires an “expert” on site to deploy. There is gradual improvement, forced by Apple and Google, but it is not yet at a price and cost level that is profitable for mass market.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing your company in the next 12 months?

We see continued investment in the area of proactive and preventive customer care, especially in the area of home networks and Wi-Fi in particular. Wi-Fi has become the predominant technology in the home. How can we guarantee the necessary quality of service for so many Wi-Fi connected devices in an unlicensed spectrum?

How will companies leverage the growth in the market in the next 12 months? What is the impact of the Internet Giants (Google, Amazon) getting involved in the market?

We consider the impact of Google and Apple in the area of IOT as beneficial to the industry because it forces consolidation into a market that is too fragmented. These behemoths are setting new standards for usability and vendor interop that can only benefit the consumer.

Tom will be speaking at the panel session “Supporting the IoT & New Consumer Experiences”on 11 November at 10:15.

For more information on the 2015 CONNECTIONS Europe conference agenda, visit www.connectionseurope.com.

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