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Mobile data alone "won't cut it for operators."

MWC will get some wake-up calls next week. Here's one: "Mobile operators think they can beat the recession by embracing mobile broadband and providing services such as mobile TV and gaming. However, Convergys believes the provision of these services alone will not cut it."

Convergys is a top five customer service provider and reckons that it works for virtually all of Europe’s leading telcos. "Our 75,000 employees take one in every three calls made to Europe’s top telecoms providers," a company representative said recently. This statement was disavowed by head office as "an error." However, the correct figure is being investigated.

So Convergys sees itself, more than anyone else, as being in the best place to understand how telco customers are thinking.

The message from the company (not from CEO Dave Dougherty, it turns out): "Operators can only boost their revenues from additional services if they get customer service right."

In order to succeed, he believes, operators need to provide "flexible, targeted services which account for the customers’ changing circumstances, along with a simple, personalised customer experience," - and that is the message they'll be preaching in Barcelona next week.

"We understands the complexities of the mobile value chain and have identified where the growth opportunities lie," said a company publicity executive.

Expect Convergys to release research results during the show into "what will convince consumers to spend more on mobile content this year, given the current economic climate."

Stand number: 8B70(8) Hall: AV57(Avenue)