More About Over-The-Top Services

Over-the-top is a common term for services that you utilize over a network that is not under administration of a service provider. It’s called over the top because these services ride on top of the services that are already being provided to you by service providers. They usually bypass traditional distribution.

Services that are typically related to media and communication and most of the time lower in cost than the traditional method of delivery.

The term came because of competition from service providers to telecom companies offering similar telecom services using different Web Services methods. In telecom world over the top means providing unmanaged service over IP. If operator builds a service infrastructure and then extends his services to any IP point then he is providing OTT services.

OTT is delivered directly from the provider to viewer by using an open internet or broadband connection which is independent of the viewer’s Internet Service Provider and do not require any business or technology affiliations with your network operator. OTT has opened new ways for operators to generate profits. Examples are catch-up TV, Video on demand and interactive applications.

It is a best effort and unmanaged way of content delivery through the Internet which suits service providers who are mainly broadcasters instead of an Internet Service Providers. OTT opens a entirely new way for operators to generate revenue from catch-up TV, Video on Demand (VOD) and interactive applications.

Another Example of OTT service is Over the Top Television services. Also known as Internet TV or TV over Broadband, Over-The-Top Television allows you to view content that is available over the internet. It is delivered through broadband connection and bypasses the traditional providers of TV services.

You can view the content on a PC or on Over the Top TV enabled Set Top Box or Television.

OTT is also described as killer for the payTV industry because of it has capability to bypass the network. Copyrights of any program or video can be expensive. VoIP has affected the telecom industry because of its low rate.

The business models for Telco OTT and web OTT are very different from each other.  Web OTT earn money either from the sale of the service or content or from advertising. As users shift from one service to another, advertising based models lean to have a greater number of subscribers.

On the other hand telecom companies do not see OTT as sustainable business on its own. Telco companies do it by altogether restrictive the content and service to only their subscribers, or offering a better quality of service only to their own customers.

The success of over-the-top is observed in being location and technology transferrable and agnostic. Which means that the subscriber has a direct relationship with the OTT provider and subscriber is free to access his subscription from any location, any time and ultimately by using any technology?

Using over-the-top services consumers can enjoy different contents from any place at any time through many devices mobile phones, pads, tablets, games consoles, connected TVs, all these connected to a central gateway.