Forecasting market demand for new telecommunications services: an introduction

The marketing team of a new telecommunications company is usually tasked with producing forecasts for diverse stakeholders with different needs. Consequently, those outside marketing often do not realize the many reasons for developing forecasts, nor the marketing theory used and the challenges involved in doing so. Based on our three decades of experience working with telecommunications operators around the world we seek to redress this situation by presenting a discussion of the issues involved in demand forecasting for new communication services. Acknowledgments: The writing of this paper commenced while the first two authors were members of the Department of Electronic Engineering at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. The work was partly funded by the British Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), under grant GR/L84117 and a studentship, and this support is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank Martin Garner of Ovum for his detailed comments on an earlier draft. The views expressed here are those of the authors only, and are not necessarily those of our current or former employers or consultancy clients.