How to price cloud video surveillance as a service as a Telecom Operator or ISP
Telecom and ISP companies face their initial major challenge when introducing cloud video surveillance (VSaaS / VMS-as-a-service) as an additional service because they need to determine appropriate pricing strategies for new markets where this service has not yet gained widespread adoption. If you are a telecom operator or ISP exploring new revenue streams from B2B and B2C, understanding video surveillance subscription pricing telecom is key to successfully offering cloud-based security services to your customers
The article presents a step-by-step approach to create pricing models for B2C and B2B customers while providing global market examples and demonstrating how Aipix offers superior solutions and invites businesses to take action towards the innovative solutions.
How to form a tariff for B2C (consumer / residential) cloud video surveillance?
What are the cost drivers you must cover?
When targeting consumers, your tariff must account for:
- Camera count & resolution (e.g. 1080p, 4K)
- Retention period / storage volume (number of days stored)
- Ingress / egress / bandwidth costs (transfer from site to cloud, plus streaming)
- Compute / processing / analytics features (motion detection, AI, object detection)
- Service overhead, support, maintenance margin
- Churn / marketing / customer acquisition costs
A common approach for video surveillance subscription pricing from telecom is per-camera per-month + tiered storage. For example:
- Basic: 1 camera, 7 days retention → €5/month
- Standard: up to 3 cameras, 14 days retention → €12/month
- Premium: up to 5 cameras, 30 days retention + AI alerts → €25/month
You may add surcharges for HD / 4K cameras, or for extra retention days.
The public cloud surveillance vendors often charge $15–$50 per camera per month depending on features, retention, etc. You as a telco must price lower (or bundle) to be competitive against those pure VSaaS providers.
How to avoid “sticker shock” for consumers?
- Offer free tier / trial (e.g. 1 camera, 24-48 h retention)
- Bundle with your existing broadband / IPTV / security package
- Use upsell tiers rather than all-in one
- Use discounts for 12-month prepayment
Porque B2C churn is sensitive to price, your margins per customer may be modest — volume and upsells matter. In telecom, B2C is already crowded, so your surveillance service often is a “value add” or differentiator.
How to form a tariff for B2B / enterprise cloud video surveillance?
Business customers including SMEs and retail chains and branches and logistics operations require more intricate pricing systems which generate higher profit margins through contractual agreements.
Which pricing strategies can telecoms use in B2B?
- Tiered / volume discounts (e.g. cameras 1–20, 21–100, 100+)
- Per location / site + per camera hybrid models
- Flat rate / outcome-based (e.g. “monitoring service for 10 sites including alerts”)
- Usage / pay-as-you-go for storage / egress
- Peak / off-peak pricing for bandwidth or streaming
- Contract / SLA based negotiated pricing
B2B negotiations involve establishing terms and service level agreements and support and customization options. The main objective in B2B pricing is to establish a direct connection between price and customer value through security and compliance and loss prevention benefits.
What margin zone is realistic?
Enterprise VSaaS businesses generate profit margins between 30% to 50% based on their operational scale and efficiency and their ability to differentiate through analytics and integration capabilities. The stability of B2B contracts enables you to distribute your fixed costs (platform and integration) across longer periods.
Example: video surveillance subscription pricing telecom. Tariff plan for small business / retail chain (Europe)
Tier | # Cameras | Retention | Analítica | Monthly Price* |
---|---|---|---|---|
Basic SME | 5 | 14 days | basic motion detection | €50 |
Standard | 20 | 30 days | object classification, alerts | €200 |
Empresa | 100 | 60 days | AI /integrations | €500 |
* These video surveillance subscription pricing telecom are illustrative. You may offer discount for annual contracts or volume.
You can negotiate site-rollout discounts for chains (e.g. 100 stores) and cross-sell maintenance and access control and monitoring services etc.
What are some real examples in Europe / Central Asia?
Western European Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide security and camera services as bundles which cost between €5 and €20 per household based on the number of cameras and available features.
The price structure in Central Asia and Eastern Europe operates under different market conditions because basic consumer plans cost between €3 and €10 while B2B SMEs need to spend €30 to €150 or more per site based on their business size and analytics requirements.
A mid-size capital city in Central Asia allows residential customers to purchase a 3-camera system with 7-day recording for €7 per month but small business customers with 10 cameras must pay €80 per month.
Your pricing strategy needs to match the local standard of living and market competition while considering your expenses for bandwidth and storage and customer support.
How to refine / adjust your tariffs over time?
The process of determining appropriate tariffs requires ongoing evaluation because market conditions and customer needs and competitor strategies and infrastructure expenses evolve throughout time.
The effectiveness of your launch tariff model will decrease after six months unless you make adjustments to it. Telecom operators and ISPs need to handle cloud video surveillance pricing as an active system which requires ongoing assessment and testing to achieve revenue optimization and customer contentment.
- Monitor usage patterns: how many cameras, storage used, peak spikes
- Use A/B testing / dynamic pricing (e.g. special promotions)
- Renovate your pricing annually or biannually to reflect cost changes
- Offer discounts for commitment / multi-year contracts
- Segment your clients by verticals (retail, logistics, property management) and offer vertical bundles
- Be flexible: allow customers to upgrade / downgrade easily
Why choose Aipix? For its advantages and flexibility
When you partner with Aipix as your VSaaS / video surveillance platform:
- Flexible, telecom-ready integration.
Your pricing structure remains under your control because you determine your tariff rates. The integration process at Aipix operates at high speed to enable easy connection with your billing system and OSS/BSS and portal workflows. - Scalable and modular architecture.
The platform scales from small B2C to large enterprise deployments, supports multi-tenant, analytics modules, modular add-ons. - Low upfront risk, fast MVP rollout.
Because we handle the heavy lifting (cloud infrastructure, APIs, analytics modules), you can launch quickly with minimal CAPEX. - No lock-in on pricing tiers.
You can revise or experiment with your tariff structures over time; Aipix supports dynamic pricing, tier changes, meterings. - Focus on your core strengths.
Let Aipix handle the video pipeline, storage, alerting, APIs, while you focus on sales, customer acquisition, bundling with connectivity.
Thus, your surveillance service stays fully under your brand and billing control, not constrained by vendor pricing.
So, ready to launch a profitable cloud video surveillance offering as a telco or ISP? Aipix enables you to rapidly integrate VSaaS, experiment with tariffs, and monetize surveillance without vendor lock-in.
Leave a request for free consultation! Our managers will provide their expertise on creating tariff models for Video Surveillance as a Service after you submit your request to establish a profitable business model for enduring success.