Telecom Fiji Limited chief executive, Mothilal De Silva, believes collaboration is the only way to counter the threats posed by global Over-the-Top (OTT) companies/apps.

OTT companies include the likes of Netflix, Skype, Google, Viber and Whatsapp etc which continue to threaten the telecos not only locally, but around the world.

“You have to go into partnerships with them. Rather than bashing OTTs always, you should find ways of cooperating. This has been done by operators in other areas already,” Mr De Silva said.

He was speaking at the 2016 Top Executives (TOPEX) Conference at the Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa on Denarau Island in Nadi which ended yesterday.

Mr De Silva said their long-term strategy has to also be collaboration and transformation.

“Collaborate not only with the partners, but also with customers and competitors,” he said.

Way forward

Given all the challenges in the telecommunications sector, Mr De Silva believes for a small country like Fiji, the way forward is to share the assets and build common platform.

“We don’t need to merge companies but build common platform,” he said.

“You can share some components of core network like sharing the infrastructure.

“We need to keep investing in infrastructure and I think you can share and build common platform and you can even bring platforms to third party developers and share your capabilities.”

TOPEX is a major annual event organised by the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation.

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