- The president of Telefónica has highlighted the positive impact of digital technologies, citing recent reports estimating that a 10% increase in digitalisation of the economy could increase GDP per capita growth rates by 40%”.
Barcelona, February 22nd, 2016.- César Alierta has explained today that digitalisation will change everything, that social progress will be exponential, with an even greater wealth creation. He’s also highlighted that the digital industry has accounted for nearly one fifth of global growth in the last two decades, and cited recent reports estimating that a 10% increase in digitalisation of the economy could increase GDP per capita growth rates by 40%. “All of us attending Mobile World Congress acknowledge this potential, but we need institutions, governments, unions, enterprises, policy makers and citizens to realise the full potential of the digital world for the benefit of the society”, Alierta stated.
Within this context, the president of Telefónica has attributed special relevance to the role of education and has pointed out that 65% of children entering primary school today will end up working in new jobs that do not yet exist, “reason for which it is very important to change the educational model to improve the employability of new professionals”. Exponential increase in data, digitalisation and Big Data will also equally transform production models, which is key to anticipating customer needs, making better business decisions and encouraging innovation.
A new relationship with the customer
In a welcome speech at the first official ceremony of the Mobile Word Congress, which begins today in Barcelona, César Alierta explained the audience how telecommunications operators hold in their hands the opportunity to build a different kind of data relationship with their customers, “a relationship based on trust, giving customers visibility and control of their digital life, because we guarantee customers’ data privacy and security”.
The president of Telefónica has explained that Big Data providing gives telcos a differential opportunity to take advantage of, as few sectors have such extensive knowledge of their own customers as telcos have. “This is simply because telcos are the network and because we hold a real life relationship with our customers, through billing, commercial contacts and customer service”, he added. He continued to describe how it is about building a new competitive edge that would allow to rebalance the value chain of the digital ecosystem.
Before wrapping up his speech, César Alierta also reminded the audience of the need to maintain a balanced stage for all the actors in the digital ecosystem. “Current regulation has to change in order to achieve the application of the same service, same rules, same protection principle in the digital space”, stated the president of Telefónica, for whom transparency, Digital life portability, interoperability and digital neutrality are the pillars in which open Internet should be supported in order to create a better digital experience.
