The recession is projected to wane in 2010. That’s going to impact the communications industry, and providers in new ways. Investment strategies are shifting, along with business models. In this edited transcript, the first of a two-part series, Mike Jude, program manager in the consumer communications services group at Stratecast, a division of Frost & Sullivan, delves into some of those changes.
xchange: Several sectors, including hosted VoIP providers, have enjoyed growth during the recession. What should they do to continue that growth in a recovery?
Mike Jude: For carriers and operators generally, the big thing is turning into what I’d call integrated or blended services. This notion of being like a single service provider or offering one or two components of the triple play, that’s not going to work much longer. The focus strictly on service delivery, especially with competition increasing from just about every direction, is kind of a prescription for failure. So, generally VoIP providers, conventional POTS providers, cable providers – all of those entities need to start focusing on the service layer and especially integrated services.
XC: What do you mean by that?
MJ: The biggest innovation over the last several years has been service bundles. And that’s great unless I want to watch my television channels on my computer or if I want to do text messaging on my TV monitor. I can’t do that. What we’re seeing now is the evolution where services are not particular to a medium. At Comcast, for example, you can subscribe to premium sports packages but you can also see those sporting events on your computer by accessing the appropriate portal. Likewise, AT&T with its U-verse service – there’s text messaging and Caller ID on your TV screen. Verizon is very much into the blended-service environment with widgets that tie into the computer and video into the cell phone. It’s this notion the various players are playing with – you subscribe to a service and, through any device, I have a way to get to that.
XC: Which telecom sectors are best poised to take advantage of renewed spending in 2010?
MJ: Right now it looks like the cable MSOs are getting into a position to take advantage of increased spending. They have, over the last year, made a huge investment in digital cable, DOCSIS 3.0 infrastructure. They’re in a position to provide very high bandwidth for Internet access, with much more highly refined interactive capabilities that allow you to control what’s going on in your video delivery. In terms of being able to build some of the more attractive packages they’re probably in a good position right now – although, I have to say the IP-enabled carriers are doing some fairly creative blended services as well.
