There are a lot of rumors on the Internet, VoIP phone service’ On the side of consumers around the world are doing much Vonage advertising exposure and the cable triple play offers’ From a technological perspective, VoIP is now much more mature than in his day, when most young Internet telephony has resulted in a rough voice conversation in both computers’ Given that VoIP services are used by operators for voice traffic over large parts of their networks for years, is now well placed to become the standard technology used to carry voice traffic over the last miles of all consumers? S home’ Increased penetration of broadband and advances in VoIP technology as possible, and there is now a long list of VoIP providers, is seeking a piece of the action’ Ranging from giants like Verizon and Comcast, with relatively few unknowns’ For the first time in the history of telecommunications, it may be a phone provider without the barriers of high capital required for connection and network operation centers (NOC)’) Neither the Regulations to be a barrier carrier Local Exchange’ Therefore, the area is marked by many small players agile? What is the probability of survival for smaller VoIP service providers?
Cable TV has a strong position in the telephony market’ They have already built a large customer base’ They also have a local presence, including facilities around the neighborhood regularly driving and customer service in each city where they have a franchise’ Having the installer is a big advantage that you can install VoIP services and drive to connect the internal wiring of services is no different to that in the past’ Therefore, a person should not be the least bit technically inclined to adopt the service, thus opening the market to the masses’ The pure plays like Vonage can not reach the mass market of this type’
The cable companies have a tremendous brand awareness in their markets’ This is potentially important is that they are viewed as a utility company and the people who are used to provide telephone service for this type of entity’ There is a familiarity and comfort to go to a utility company for telephone services’
They also have tremendous strength in both billing and customer service’ While some hate the cable in May, as long a windows installation to the end of May shows in May and awaits you at call centers, cable operators are in fact very well to manage the complexity of their operations’ For example, some markets, RCN years came as deputy believed that cable could call? S-averse cable companies? service and make it better, but gave rise to what is very complex and has finished doing worse’ If a company wants to scale as a leading provider of VoIP, which must manage the complexity of billing and customer service’ The cable companies have been in this direction’
This is what could be the most important factor to explain why cable companies will be more successful in the VoIP and ruin the chances of other small operators – provide a broadband connection’ As for the VoIP provider has the first Dibs on the provision of voice service’ Moreover, since broadband connections have high margins and VoIP has lower margins, providers of broadband services to treat the voice as a loss of leadership in service to obtain and retain customers in its high-speed connections’ NetZero, for example, is free and VoIP phone services at low prices, no doubt, in the hope of signing in visitors to your ISP’ Voice service can be so common that will have a broadband service in the same way email is today’ If this becomes a reality there are very few opportunities and a grim prospect of pure survival for smaller VoIP service providers unless they play could provide a differentiated value proposition’
The local telephone company also supports many of the same benefits as the cables because they have strong brands, the ability to act effectively, creating customer service and field technicians’ They must also provide the highest level of comfort to people for the provision of telephone service’ However, telephone companies are showing the dark compared to cable companies that have the largest number of VoIP subscribers’ Verizon VoiceWing and AT & T is only 5′5% of 2′9 million subscribers by pure play VoIP (Telephia Q2 2006)’ These subsidiaries are eclipses 320K by cable companies like Time Warner Cable, which alone 1′6 million VoIP customers in October 2006′ Why do telephone companies have a bad result? Internal conflicts between POTS and VoIP is one of the reasons’ They can not focus on a narrow margin in their VoIP offerings and struggle to create a product with advanced packet services’ Also spend more resources and focus on improving the supply of broadband DSL and try to break into video services’ However, we still remain the second and third positions of pure play VoIP subscribers and have a lot of money, allowing them to outspend a small VoIP provider for Mindshare’
Vonage, with 53′9% of 2′9 million pure play VoIP subscribers, is spending a lot of money for clients and Mindshare’ This is good because it increases the perception of the product category, which contributes to a smaller pure play’ However, it also presents a major challenge for small providers to compete face to face customers a single supplier has a dominant voice’
There are a number of challenges facing a small VoIP provider’ Small suppliers compete for the parties to voice against companies that spend lots of money’ Regarding the case study is, VoIP is a relatively small margins and return on investment in marketing and creating brand awareness is a challenge’ However, without spending money on the market, it is difficult to attract customers’
Then there is the problem of market size’ Pure play vendors do not? T are local installers and technicians, thus limiting the market to those who have the technical mastery to the creation of the service or the will to do so’ If the target market is defined as people who have the technical ability to set the VoIP on a home network, the market is composed mostly of young people’ This group is increasingly mobile and use is not much for a phone’ Also, consider how the phone market will change over the years’ People in college who will graduate within the next two years and get 100% of the apartments are mobile and have never had a landline phone’ Therefore, the pure play VoIP market will be as rapid as the decline in its growth’
However, there is still a possibility for smaller VoIP providers in this difficult market’ The opportunity is to focus on niche markets and take advantage of VoIP that are particularly important to specific segments of customers’ In these segments, the “Word of mouth is a viable strategy if the service can meet an important need’ This solves the dilemma of investing in the media to build a strong brand and a better return’
ReVoS Internet phone service is an example of a small VoIP provider has to take this strategy’ They focus on a niche of people who make many international calls’ ReVoS offer VoIP services, which includes unlimited calls to over 40 countries, including the standard products offered VoIP for $ 24′95 per month’ They also developed a product that runs on a mobile VoIP phone that does not need a broadband connection’ This is for people of international origin, which also have the highest propensity to use mobile phones of any population in the U’ S’ This niche makes sense since the performance of long distance traffic is an inherent strength of VoIP networks’ Also, these client groups is best achieved through a niche strategy and not the mass market strategies’ This market is comprised mainly of people living in the United States who settled here from other countries’ Are tight communities where word of mouth and can not flourish value proposition is strong when saving money on the high cost of international calls’ This is an example of how a small VoIP provider to compete successfully against much more formidable competitors such as cable companies and Vonage’
However, the future of the telephone industry and the role that VoIP is still to be defined and there are many uncertainties’ There is a long list of unknowns, which include topics such as Google to enter the voice, and if Microsoft includes a VoIP telephony software and services as an integral part of their operating systems’ Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) is another character of technology that could change the shape of the competitive landscape’ The overwhelming penetration of mobile telephony and mobile operators? ability to steal the show with an offer to the FMC is very real’ That is the competing technology that disrupts the strength in MSO VoIP’ The question then becomes product offering is delivered over 1) broadband and VoIP, or 2) mobile telephony and VoIP’ Another chose to consider is whether the comments wireless VoIP (wVoIP) could change the competitive landscape and telephony in the ecosystem if the local hotspots and / or WiMax launch’
Whatever the future, the economies of the telephone industry is unlikely that a small number of large companies in control of most of the market’ People want simplicity in their lives and the winners will be those that provide the most homogeneous solutions to people? S needs communication’ For smaller VoIP providers to survive and make profits, that meets the needs of niche advantages that are stripped of the strategy for mass adoption, have a well defined and differentiated value proposition (remember, ESPN Mobile? S problem), the effectiveness of cost control and low-margin, low turnover to compensate for the limited total average revenue per subscriber (ARPU) in the absence of a broader strategy of products and the opportunity to benefit from viral marketing in target markets’ With all this in place, there is a chance of survival for small VoIP providers’