{{external links, date=September 2018
Telco-OTT (Over-The-Top) is where a
telecommunications service provider
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
delivers one or more services across an
IP network
The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suit ...
. The IP networks is predominantly the public
internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
although sometimes telco cloud run services delivered via a corporation's existing IP-VPN from another provider, as opposed to the carrier's own
access network
An access network is a type of telecommunications network which connects subscribers to their immediate service provider. It is contrasted with the core network, which connects local providers to one another. The access network may be further ...
. It embraces a variety of telco services including communications (e.g. voice and messaging), content (e.g. TV and music) and cloud-based (e.g. compute and storage) offerings.
Stimulated by the availability of high performance fixed and mobile broadband networks as well as the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablet computers, telco-OTT is viewed by a selection of industry analysts and media commentators as the mechanism that
mobile network operators
A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sell ...
need to employ in order to compete with the vast and growing range of over-the-top (OTT) services provided by non-telco companies.
Telco-OTT is a response to the fact that users will have multiple devices (
smartphones
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, which ...
, laptops or other connected devices such as TVs, games consoles) which almost inevitably will have various different access providers (especially with the growth of public-access
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
). So to deliver consistent telco-branded services, at some points at least, they will need to be delivered over 3rd-party access.
The term was first coined by telecoms industry analyst Dean Bubley who first published a report on it in February 2012, but first used the term in a June 2011 presentation he gave at the eComm conference in SF.Dean Bubley, "What's next in Telecom, Mobile and Internet Communications" (San Francisco: eCommConf, 6 July 2011) /ref>