For global telecoms and media players in 2013, innovation is a priority, according to the results of Informa Telecoms & Media’s (News - Alert) annual industry survey. From across both these sectors, over 500 senior executives were asked how their businesses and markets would perform in 2013, and the role innovation would play in driving future revenue growth.

Regarding the state of the market and revenue prospects for 2013, respondents were generally positive, with almost 40 percent saying that in their home markets there were strong opportunities for both vendors and operators.

In order to determine the most important sources of innovation, by looking at sources of innovation generally in today’s telecoms and media markets, there’s a fair divergence of views.

Ranked as the most important focus for telecoms and TV operators, service innovation was first on the list, followed by partnerships and business models, customer service innovation and network innovation.

But outside its core businesses, Informa Telecoms & Media believes the industry must take a long-term approach to developing new services and revenue streams. 

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“It is important to recognize that it is going to take a long time for new businesses to have an impact on total revenue,” said Mark Newman, chief research officer at Informa Telecoms & Media.

Asked to what extent, as individuals, our respondents felt they were rewarded personally for being innovative in their jobs, three out of four gave a score of between three and five (one = low reward, five = high reward).

There is an acceptance in the telecoms market that the most important players, in terms of the types of companies that provide the biggest sources of innovation, are contained in the wider community of Internet and applications developers. In the TV business, however, the most important source of innovation is content creators and producers.

From 2013 to 2015, the biggest challenge the industry will face will be managing the transition of massive revenue streams from voice to data.