The new media sector, as well as corporate users' preference for on-premises solutions, have been disruptive to the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) or APEJ telecom industry in the past few years. As the market evolves, telcos have been experimenting with various go-to-market offerings, partnerships, solution developments, and network investments models in hopes of capturing a bigger piece of the pie. Yet, these innovations, and the paths leading to them, have not always generated immediate financial benefits (and in many cases, telcos have resisted the changes in order to protect their revenue/profit base). Telcos are now finding themselves at a point where it is equally important to stay on top of emerging trends (and continue to innovate) while ensuring positive financial returns for the immediate terms from 'cash cow' offerings. Thus, 2008 will be a year of finding the optimal balance between creating and sustaining demands in the industry.

In this breakfast briefing, Sandra Ng will share with you IDC's top 10 predictions in the telecommunications industry for 2008 and what they mean for telcos, networking vendors and IT players.