Of total subscribers, it is expected by the end of this year 787,000 to correspond to Flow App and 495,000 to Flow Box. This was stated by Guillermo Páez, director of Telecom Content Distribution Platform, during his presentation in CALA Excecutive Leadership Summit of Arris held in Miami.
Flow, launched in 2016, was developed in one year in a providers ecosystem that includes Arris, Minerva, Anevia, ContentWise and Verimatrix and in all cases flexibility was a requirement for hiring, explained Guillermo Páez, director of Telecom's Content Distribution Platform. Future plans for Flow include continuous improvement of user interface and simplification of the remote control until reaching the closest point to a seven-button control.
They also analyze the integration of third-party platforms, they already have YouTube, but others without further technical challenges could be integrated. They no longer see video OTT as a threat but as a complementary service. At the end of the day, the executive illustrated, we are an aggregator and we know our consumers, although the profit margins may be different than in other content aggregation models.
Furthermore, the manager said that the discussion is still open about whether or not to address a "full stand alone OTT", that is, a service not linked to a traditional subscription or network coverage area of ??the operator as the current Flow. So far, they do not need to go to that model because they have enough with their current coverage area (footprint) and do not see in Argentina a demand for this type of products, although he clarified that if necessary they are ready to launch it.
For the innovations linked to Flow, they have created Flow Factory in order to develop software that allows them to build their own experience and not depend on the roadmap of third-party products, as well as gain speed to put into production the different platform evolutions. For this purpose, they are hiring developers and programmers. Flow Factory is managed with objectives that are independent from the rest of the organization and could lay the foundations for managing innovation in other areas of the company.