As many as 30 percent of homes in the US and Britain could subscribe to Internet-based phone services in the next three years if major telecommunications companies offer services similar in price and quality to traditional phone connections, according to a new survey by Mercer Management Consulting.
The findings, based on a poll of 1,000 consumers in the two countries that was to be released yesterday, suggest that the market for low-priced Internet phone services will most likely be dominated by phone companies like AT&T and cable providers, and possibly local phone carriers, but not the new entrants that control much of the Internet market now.
"The companies with existing relationships with consumers have huge advantages," said Martin Kon, a consultant at Mercer and the author of the survey. "It's an uphill battle for the upstarts with no customer base."
While Internet calling, which sends voice calls as data packets over the Internet, is considerably cheaper than traditional calling, most consumers will not switch solely because of price, Kon said.
Reception and service, he noted, would have to be comparable to what conventional connections offer.
"People won't accept lower quality," Kon said. "I don't think Vonage or Skype," two young ventures that offer Internet calling, "will eat their lunch."
"Love them or hate them," he said, "the local phone companies are perceived as having better quality."
With nearly 200,000 subscribers, Vonage, which is based in Edison, New Jersey, is the market leader for Internet calling services by a wide margin. But its share of the market has started to slip since AT&T introduced its Internet phone service, called CallVantage, in March.
Cable companies including Cablevision, Time Warner Cable and Cox have also entered the Internet phone market, and other telecommunications companies are preparing services as well. Vonage has worked to shake the perception that its service is only for technophiles and is unreliable and difficult to use.
Consumers can use the service without having to install software on computers or buying special phones. The company sells the adaptors needed to access its service in 5,000 retail outlets.
According to IDC, a market research firm, nearly 600,000 consumers in the US are expected to subscribe to Internet calling services by the end of the year.
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
TALKS CONTINUE: Although an agreement has not been reached with Washington, lowering the tariff from 32 percent to 20 percent is still progress, the vice premier said Taiwan would strive for a better US tariff rate in negotiations, with the goal being not just lowering the current 20-percent tariff rate, but also securing an exemption from tariff stacking, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said yesterday. Cheng made the remarks at a news conference at the Executive Yuan explaining the new US tariffs and the government’s plans for supporting affected industries. US President Donald Trump on July 31 announced a new tariff rate of 20 percent on Taiwan’s exports to the US starting on Thursday last week, and the Office of Trade Negotiations on Friday confirmed that it
RSS