Spirent Communications plc has published its annual mobile device intelligence report for 2016. Spirent is a provider of verification, assessment, analytics, and device intelligence solutions.

The annual report shows that the company’s original equipment manufacturer (OEM) testing partnerships grew to 130. This expanded the pool of raw device detection and capability data for Spirent’s in-house device verification, testing and certification processes.

VoLTE services became mainstream in 2016, says the report. The company expanded its Device Library for VoLTE capable devices sixfold, accommodating over 300 VoLTE-capable devices.

The year also reportedly saw its Tweakker Device Guides and smartphone support solution save network operator customers a collective US$40 million in customer service costs. This is an increase of 135% over 2015’s record.

Thomas Yde Frederiksen, head of Tweakker

“Spirent’s cloud device intelligence solution Tweakker again proved vital to the financial health of virtual network carriers in 2016,” said Thomas Yde Frederiksen, head of Tweakker. “Singularly, it enabled over 80 virtual mobile operators worldwide to provide their subscribers with seamless connectivity for mobile data services, provide better customer service and automate the user engagement process.”

Low-cost smartphones costing as little as US$50 flooded operators’ networks, imposing further strains on mobile operators’ device management operations. While smartphone sales boomed in emerging markets, in mature markets they registered a growth of only 1.6% in 2016. This is compared to 10.4% growth in 2015.

Spirent reports that securing a successful and cost-efficient APN set-up throughout the entire customer life-cycle remained a key challenge for mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs).

The full report can be downloaded here.

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