Unless mobile operators work together on prices and roaming charges, OTTs will continue to eat their lunch, warned Tata Communications’ Stuart Mitchell.

Tata Communications is the sixth-biggest mobile operator in India and one of the largest subsea infrastructure providers to the global telecoms industry.

Speaking with Siliconrepublic.com at the GSMA WAS Summit last November in Dublin, Mitchell said that operators need a new plan and emulating WhatsApp is not the answer.

“The mobile operators’ biggest nightmare is to become a dumb bitpipe, and yet, that is what we are seeing in the market. It is a challenge to the industry how they can innovate.

“There is no point developing a competitor to WhatsApp, that ship has sailed.

“They need to think about how they can develop networks and reduce pricing tariffs,” Mitchell said.