There’s a “race to the bottom” scouring the pure-play VoIP industry, as prices for voice services plummet and many once high-flying startups, such as Deltathree, look headed for obituaries in the business press. But the carnage of 2008 is not indicative of the opportunity VoIP represents to large carriers, who are gaining subscribers and beginning to stem access-line losses with integrated, triple-play bundles for residential and small-business markets.
In the last six months alone, AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) have replaced their first-gen standalone VoIP offerings with newer services packaged with their TV and high-speed Internet services in triple-play bundles. SureWest Communications (SURW) launched a digital voice offering that, in a marketing twist, it’s casting as a lure for other bundled services.
And earlier this week, Verizon confirmed plans to begin deploying FiOS Digital Voice in a few markets soon and said it will no longer actively market its previous VoiceWing VoIP service — which was powered by technology from Deltathree. Verizon is following the lead of chief rival AT&T, which launched its bundled U-verse Voice service this past January, mothballing its much older CallVantage VoIP offering. AT&T said this week the service, which is now available in more than 50 cities, is rolling out in Dallas/Fort Worth.
These new integrated IP voice services make it easier to add features, cost less to launch and support fixed-mobile convergence initiatives.
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| Digital Phone stems access line loss, says SureWest’s Peter Drozdoff. |
“Not only has it helped SureWest offset the access line losses that are prevalent in the telecom industry today; it has also increased the take rate of our Internet and video products,” explained SureWest marketing vice president Peter Drozdoff, of the company’s new Digital Phone.
And while earlier VoIP services had a short set of base calling features, the list with newer entrants is longer and can include integration with other IP services.
“We have differentiated our VoIP product by offering 22 advanced features like Find/Me Follow/Me, Sequential Ringing and many others that can be interactively managed online,” claimed Drozdoff. “Our product is just as reliable as a traditional phone with more features.”
In other words, talk may be cheap, but VoIP can add value. That was evidenced this past summer as SureWest launched an offer led by its Digital Phone service, using voice to help promote bundles with TV and Internet as the “other” components.
Customers that sign a one-year agreement get Internet access at up to 3 mbps and Digital Basic TV (78 channels) free for the first six months, plus voice service for $39.99 a month. That doesn’t include taxes and fees. After the first six months, users pay $120 month for the three services combined, not including taxes and fees.
When AT&T announced it was beginning deployment of a new VoIP service, dubbed U-verse Voice, the carrier included a host of additional features — ones not delivered with its four-year-old CallVantage VoIP offering, which was discontinued months later.
