Location Intelligence in Telecom: 4 Use Cases

Telecom companies were among the early adopters of location intelligence technology, due in large part to their need for spatial analysis to better understand network coverage and white space. Although the application of geospatial technology has been widely used in telecom for some time, a number of new use cases have emerged that call for deeper and more innovative uses of location intelligence in the industry in recent years.

As mobile devices have become ubiquitous and data analysis technologies have matured, new opportunities are opening up. This article explores four important use cases for geospatial intelligence in the telecom space.

1. Know Your Customers

Location intelligence provides businesses with a set of keys that unlock a whole new world of information about customers, prospects, and markets. Many telecom companies have a somewhat limited understanding of who their customers are. They have billing information, of course, and possibly some cursory information about a customer’s place of employment, credit history, and potentially even some information about immediate family members who are also customers.

Mobile trace data adds some dimensions to that picture, but it doesn’t necessarily provide a lot of granular detail. It tells you where those customers are in time and space, but not much else. By combining that mobile trace data with existing information about your customers, and then enriching it with detailed information about the locations they visit, you can gain significant insights into where they spend their time, what types of stores they shop at, which restaurants they frequent, and more.

You can even incorporate online activity and social media handles to gain a thorough understanding of lifestyle preferences and other factors that can help you better engage with those customers, anticipate potential customer needs, and even predict possible customer defections. Adding location context and enriching your existing data opens up a whole new world of possibilities for deeper customer engagement.

2. Reach New Customers

Location intelligence can also help telecom companies gain a better understanding of populations and mobility. By overlaying demographic data with a map of a target area, companies can develop a detailed picture of the neighborhoods and regions they serve and the people who live there. They can begin to understand which neighborhoods are frequented primarily by young hipsters, versus retirees or working-class families.

As telecom companies plan for expanded network coverage, design marketing campaigns, and more, understanding these types of demographic distributions can be extraordinarily valuable. Transitory populations (such as college students, for example) can be targeted for acquisition. Startup businesses, likewise, may provide opportunities to enroll new subscribers.

3. Plan Your Investments

Location intelligence (LI) is a valuable tool for telecom companies planning for expanded network coverage. LI provides a detailed map of buildings within a given geography, including the type of construction (wood vs. brick, for example), its use (commercial, residential, or mixed-use), its height and elevation, and even the type of roof it sports. For obvious reasons, the latter pieces of information can be highly important for telecom companies seeking additional tower locations.

Location intelligence tools provide the capacity to map structures, overlay that data with existing infrastructure (both for your own company and that of your competitors), and create a prioritized map of potential new locations. By viewing this information alongside demographic distributions, telecom providers can more accurately match their future capabilities to the needs of surrounding target populations.

4. Monetize Your Data

If you work in the telecom industry, you already know that your data is valuable. Monetizing that information has become a valuable source of revenue for carriers. But innovative telecom companies are finding new ways to extract value from their data by leveraging location intelligence.

Mobility data adds considerably more dimension to this information, though. Imagine, for example, that a company wants to advertise its goods or services on a digital billboard along the main downtown thoroughfare. Historically, it might only have been possible to know which types of consumers lived in the area and to have a general idea of what the daytime population looked like.

Mobility data can help you understand, at a very detailed level, which types of demographic groups pass through an area at a given time of day–for example, between 7 AM and 8 AM on weekday mornings. For an advertiser aiming to reach a specific category of customers using the downtown digital billboard, that information can be extraordinarily valuable.

When combined with demographic information and detailed consumer data, mobile trace data becomes far more valuable than it would ever be as a standalone offering. One of the biggest challenges associated with this effort to monetize data, though, arises from the sheer volume of information that is now available and the velocity with which it is being produced. Globally, telecom networks are now handling traffic for billions of mobile devices, not only including phones, tablets, and hotspots, but also IoT sensors and other embedded technology.

Processing these volumes of data requires advanced capabilities, with integration to multiple leading technologies and cloud platform providers. By integrating data with best-in-class companies and products, telecoms are free to leverage the most powerful technologies currently available.

As a world leader in location intelligence technology and data integrity, Precisely offers a unique combination of capabilities that can help telecom companies unlock the value of their data–both as a rich source of revenue enhancement and as a powerful tool for improving internal operations, including network planning and optimization, marketing, and customer service/customer engagement.

To learn more about how Precisely’s location intelligence and data enrichment solutions can help your telecom company achieve higher revenues, optimize network investments, and engage customers more deeply, watch our free on-demand webinar, Innovations in Unlocking Subscriber and Network Serviceability Through Location Intelligence today.