Who does VoIP Threaten? Where is the VoIP Opportunity
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1. Fixed Line Subscriber based firms
2. Mobile Phone Networks
Why?
Fixed line is under attack the most in the telephone industry for two major reasons, especially in the United States
. The first reason which most people would wonder why I am talking about this in a VoIP Blog is that Fixed Residential Lines are being replaced by Fixed-Mobile substituitions. IE. The mobile phone providers are more competitive than the fixed line providers and therefore people are choosing mobile phones as home phones. All you can call local calling plans and affordable long distance or calling card based calling plans for cell phones is taking it’s toll on the Incumbants. The big picture exists with more than just mobile versus telco, it’s the whole picture and bundle that needs to be looked at carefully. In behind this are new VoIP players and service providers and a new breed of Cable Companies that will win the most. Cable companies have the opportunity to offer voice as a loss leader using VoIP, profit more because they own their own plants and cable, bundle TV, Internet, Mobile and WiFi, and completely cut the relationship off from the telco’s.
These PSTN/ISDN telephony providers no longer needs to rent the line in VoIP. This is a major chunk of the bottom line of telecommunications companies. They don’t need to rent the line, as the line is provided via the internet, riding on other companies infrastructure or the infrastructure of an ISP. This is the basis of high ROI and profits for those firms investing in VoIP infrastructure, for both broadband services and voip fixed voice traffic. This is where the VoIP industry can attack to save a lot of money for the end user. And this is what we do, as Vonage, or in Europe Telio, the list goes on, and the market is open. Telco’s have high costs associated to their fixed network, in addition Telephony providers can move at light speed…it’s IP to IP…someone doesn’t physically need to go to a switch, and set-up the availability for a new route to India at 3 cents less per minute increasing internal profits for the telco, no…VoIP companies can say…what’s your IP, I will send you traffic in the next hour…what’s your payment methods and terms. (Softswitches, Gatekeepers, Gateways for VOIP, makes this all possible.) For telco incumbents, that is too quick and disruptive for them to get their head around when they are moving cables around physically…The fast moving VoIP firms can take advantage of lower rates, in real time, any time, thus passing savings and efficiency to the client.
Mobile of course is more scalable than the fixed network systems, and so it VoIP. As the VoIP network grows, the increase in voip phone to voip phone traffic will ever increase the capacity of the systems as the real issue is in the point it touches the telco in the equation. Networks like Vonage with nearly ¾ of a million subscribers have a network of people who can communicate without touching a telco. Amazing revolution. Skype like models with software communications have a network of 40 million globally! Open relationships between major internal IP networks like Vonage and Skype will be a bridge that could eventually wipe-out a lot of the Telco foothold that still exists because a lack of IP hand-off between these networks exists as they still rely on the PSTN for the connection to each other. Of course this may change with the ENUM project, but this is a long ways away. (ENUM is a form of VoIP Numbering system being put in place, ideally making the numbering a VoIP only network, but we are yet to see this occur.)
One lost client/subscriber to VoIP is a major hit to the telco’s in more than one way. Lost revenues in the bundling of services, and lost revenues in the renting of lines. And once the mass is large enough, loss of the traffic as well. As some point I would not be surprised if all mobile companies have VoIP servers for off-net and on-net calling. Off-net goes to the “old” pstn users, such as grand ma and grand pa, and on-net allows the wireless mobile companies to go from wireless to VoIP user, skipping the PSTN. (By no means am I a visionary making things up on the spot, just take a look in the patents USPTO registry and you will start to see where this is going.) I am not a visionary but we can definitely help make this happen for you.
So then, if Mobile is going to integrate with VoIP Telco’s are losing subscribers to VoIP and Mobile, where is the future battle ground?
Thank you for asking, of course the battle will never end, there is enough there now to make it work for everyone, and it is just taking longer for telco’s to put VoIP in place in a competitive structure. (They have a lot of past investments to justify to investors.) But I do see VoIP and Mobile crossing swords in the wireless world. So lets explore this for a moment:
VoIP and Mobile Companies crossing swords in a wireless world
There are many ways in which the two will cross swords. One of which is the increased wired community phenomena happening in most major cities, where it is being realized that networks via AIR/Wireless are better than physical cabling of internet. Thus the wireless convergence with VoIP is basically offering telephone service out of thin air or in this case offering mobile telephone services using VoIP. How is this possible? Simple. I have a laptop, it has wireless internet access, and I have a softphone software and a head-set- if I am in a hotspot I can make free calls using my unlimited calling plan through my VoIP service provider. The same guys who offer me my VoIP access in my office and my home. Everything on one bill, why not?
Lets take it a step further, the VoIP Service Provider, (who was set-up by VocalScape) has imported a new hand-held voip device from China that looks and feels like a cell phone. In fact it is a cell phone. But this cell phone looks for wireless hot spots with no registration key, and authenticates also into their own wireless network they have set-up in the City. This way, people with VoIP in their home, business, and who are subscribed to their wireless internet connection services can now enjoy using the VoIP phone with their unlimited plan. That’s multiple devices for a single user. Now that is very cool, so cool, I think a lot of people will have a tough time understanding how it works. And that’s why I am here. It’s simple. I have an account with a VoIP provider, in order for me to make phone calls via their system each device I use, whether it’s my office PBX, phone at home with an ATA Jack or IP Phone, Softphone on my PC or LapTop, or Wireless Handheld VoIP Mobile Phone, they all are registered under my account. When I use them, it passes info to the system that Authorizes, Authenticates, and Accounts for everything I do. (Not to throw too much in, but it comes with a calling card too). Therefore I have 5 devices that I use for calling and I pay only $49.95 a month unlimited calling? Which five:
- Small office PBX system
- Home Residential Phone (IP Based)
- Softphone on my Laptop and PC
- Wireless VoIP Cell Phone
- Calling Card
Did I mention my internet access is bundled in with this, wireless internet?
This is very cool but of course in this world we still think about things that are fixed, or we have that whole concept of “roaming charges”, so once again, I think this is so cool, that a lot of people once again will not get how it works. So, lets explain it to them. Here is how it is:
NO MORE ROAMING CHARGES!
TAKE YOUR PHONE WITH YOU!
That’s right. I can take my VoIP Phone, VoIP Cell Phone, LapTop with softphone, and connect to my PBX or VoIP Network from anywhere in the world. Why? Because where there is internet, there is the ability for me to access the VoIP Network. All I need is the internet anywhere in the world and I am in business, live, and ready to talk. And in North America, it’s free fore me to call with my unlimited plan once again. I know I can’t take the old home phone with me to Spain, and I would need to subscribe to someone elses network for example VodaPhone, to use my SIM based Mobile Phone there. They would even need to give me a new number etc. Not with my little voip wireless phone, and if I can’t find a network, I connect it to my USB port and put a LAN into my laptop to get the connection direct. It’s comforting to know what I am paying for….
The argument therefore being, that the telco’s are at their most vulnerable in the consumer markets, and soon the business markets, where all of these functions can work off phone systems in your company…so it’s all on the company bill. (Of course it comes with call records, so maybe not all of it is on the company now is it?) But you get my point. Every mobile work force needs this and it saves money. So why resist it embrace the new world order of telecommunications. VoIP is going to have a compounding effect on the telecommunications industry which has already begun. VocalScape Networks, (VCSC.PK) is helping entrepreneurs, ISPs, Datacenters, WISPs, Telco’s and Cable companies a like to get into this bundle of services fast. If you are interested in this business and the voip opportunities…lets talk. Gibson@vocalscape.com. You can either invest in a award winning solution by VocalScape, or become a reseller with certain commitments. The time has come for you to become an entrepreneur, and VoIP is the best chance on the block to bundle everything you’ve got and run with it.
http://www.the-future-is-hear.com
THE FUTURE IS HEAR!
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What does VoIP Threaten and What is the VoIP Opportunity?
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