Triple-play is the way forward for most telcos, but making that transition successfully won't happen unless and until they're willing to accept the fact that the age of traditional circuit-switched voice is effectively over.
So says Pyramid Research director Guy Zibi, who is critical of incumbent telcos whose triple-play bundles are ostensibly designed to prop up circuit-switched voice revenues, rather than build adoption of other applications. Clearly, Zibi says, customers aren't biting.
'Telcos' own destructive obsession to protect their legacy voice services has been detrimental to the development of attractive triple-play services,' Zibi says.
Zibi allows that it's an industry-wide conundrum for telcos and even cable operators that have launched old-school voice services: cannibalizing fixed-line services with overcompelling VoIP pricing vs offering unattractive VoIP services. Unfortunately, many operators are still trying to price VoIP closer to PSTN levels, and competitors are pouncing on that vulnerability.
'Many incumbent telcos are fiddling while Rome is burning,' Zibi says.