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November 22, 2004
A Little Free Advice for the World's Incumbent Telephone Companies
[Please note that to my knowledge the new communications service I am about to suggest does not currently exist.]
Now that Verizon, BellSouth and SBC have all formally announced their VoIP ambitions, look for each of these companies to begin offering their own variation of what I am calling Softline Service in 2005. In effect, Softline Service is an optional new service that will support the use of a softphone with an associated primary residential phone line service. This service would offer a level of mobility to what used to be known as fixed, wireline service.
This in turn means that a consumer would have the ability to receive their incoming residential phone service whenever they were on the road. As long as they could connect to the broadband internet, including inside of Wi-Fi hotspots, their home phone number would be within reach, for both receiving and placing outbound phone calls. This service could support the use of both software based phones and hardware IP phones -- in the end it really shouldn't matter.
As "Voice is an Application", it is inevitable that the legacy phone companies will connect.the.dots and present Softline Service as a broadband parasite.
My suggested Softline Service strategy is something that any telephone company can execute and is available to virtually all incumbent operators operating in countries with decent-to-better broadband penetration. And given the relative limited amount of capex necessary to execute this vision, Softline Service could quickly become an even more profitable ILEC offering than their existing second line telephone business.
Of course, for the right price pulver.com will happily provide essential help in the development, production, and deployment of Softline Services. ;-)
Posted by jeff on November 22, 2004 05:05 AM | Permalink
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