Triple play, Quadruple play or NO play - Confused Telcos in a frenzy
Telcos, analysts and Business management consultants are thinking they found a new mantra to survive in the free and innovation led internet dominated world. Bundled services. They must have realized they do not have anything NEW to offer. So they are repackaging what they have in bundles to live longer. The terms convergence, Triple play and Quadruple play along with IMS are the most hyped words in the recent months, that offer no or little NEW value to the Telco's networks. They are sure however to fill the pockets of analysts, consultants and vendors.
Telcos gripped with fear from VOIP, internet applications and fear of ending up as fat pipes, are looking desperately for advice from people who have no stake in Telco business. The analysts and the Business Management Consultants. They are trying their best to do what they do best. Keep the confusion alive and make it proactively more dreadful than the reality. The result is chaotic strategies and action in hurry... may be just to die sooner than expected. I wish they realize soon.
The new VOIP services like Vonage, Skype are creating a considerable dent in thier revenues. This is equally important for both Mobile and Fixed operators. A larger chunk of calls made on mobiles are made when people are at their homes, airports, hotels, starbucks etc. These days, more people started using VOIP Phones when they are at home, in office, at starbucks or at an airport. In other words, no more long distance calls and Lesser and lesser mobile calls. More and more people are substituting landline and mobile phone calls with internet based services and chats.
How does Triple/Quadruple play or convergence solve this issue? The same analysts, consultants and telcos once created strategies to substitute landline phones with mobiles. They bragged a lot about it investors conferences. Now they are playing the game in the reverse direction.
Seems there is nothing NEW to offer. So bundling all they have or they can get to customers seems to be the one and only choice. Bundling landline, mobile, internet service and TV as one package. Why would anybody buy this package? I don't know. Few things Telcos were advised to do and This is what I know and think of it.
May be I am missing some thing in the whole hypedup new bundle of age old services? But I am sure mine and a lot more consumer's bucks deserve a lot more value than the telcos dream of.
Telcos gripped with fear from VOIP, internet applications and fear of ending up as fat pipes, are looking desperately for advice from people who have no stake in Telco business. The analysts and the Business Management Consultants. They are trying their best to do what they do best. Keep the confusion alive and make it proactively more dreadful than the reality. The result is chaotic strategies and action in hurry... may be just to die sooner than expected. I wish they realize soon.
The new VOIP services like Vonage, Skype are creating a considerable dent in thier revenues. This is equally important for both Mobile and Fixed operators. A larger chunk of calls made on mobiles are made when people are at their homes, airports, hotels, starbucks etc. These days, more people started using VOIP Phones when they are at home, in office, at starbucks or at an airport. In other words, no more long distance calls and Lesser and lesser mobile calls. More and more people are substituting landline and mobile phone calls with internet based services and chats.
How does Triple/Quadruple play or convergence solve this issue? The same analysts, consultants and telcos once created strategies to substitute landline phones with mobiles. They bragged a lot about it investors conferences. Now they are playing the game in the reverse direction.
Seems there is nothing NEW to offer. So bundling all they have or they can get to customers seems to be the one and only choice. Bundling landline, mobile, internet service and TV as one package. Why would anybody buy this package? I don't know. Few things Telcos were advised to do and This is what I know and think of it.
- Originally, many people dropped their landline phones when they bought mobiles, thanks to family plans, everyone in family has a phone. It was technically called 'Substitution' by analysts. Why would they buy again landline service now?
- Many people dropped thier landlines phones and cutting on their minutes by using cheaper alternatives like skype, google talk, yahoo voice chat etc. So they are infact using internet to cutdown their expenses on Mobile and landline. Now why would anybody buy landline and mobile while all internet services are still working so fine. Infact, they are improving on day by day at an alarming proportion.
- Block all VOIP services, ask internet companies to pay and introduce their own VOIP services, tiered internet..... read more about Net Neutrality discussion. No way they can get it. I believe they understand it fair and straight. The commotion, rush and desperation are honest symbols of their confidence in winning against net neutrality.
- To get a decent quality of TV over IP, you need atleast 5-10 Mbps connection. Its not that easy to get a customer buy those expensive connections and buy programming on top of it just to watch TV.
May be I am missing some thing in the whole hypedup new bundle of age old services? But I am sure mine and a lot more consumer's bucks deserve a lot more value than the telcos dream of.
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