Can Existing Carriers Adapt to VoIP, or Will They Be Left Behind?

VoIP has entered into the market with VoIP Softswitch solutions, business & residential communication solutions and it has been helping VoIP businesses enormously to make their work much simpler. This article gives you a quick idea on the position of existing carrier in the current position of growing VoIP market. It also gives you the reasons for the position of the carriers.

Can Existing Carriers Adapt to VoIP, or Will They Be Left Behind?

The introduction and growing popularity of VoIP has shaken up the telephone industry in the last decade. The advantages of VoIP are numerous and service providers are seeing double-digit growth as more businesses sign up for VoIP services in a bid to replace aging legacy networks.

VoIP allows vendors to provide new and enhanced services that were simply not possible through traditional TDM circuits. Features such as conference calling or IVR which were only accessible to large corporations due to their high prices are now less expensive and within reach of small and medium businesses. Others such as HD video, virtual numbers and presence information are brand-new services which allow companies to operate competitively in an increasingly globalized business environment.

VoIP certainly poses a threat to existing telephone carriers. Whether the services are used from computers or mobile devices, VoIP calls bypass their networks by using the public Internet. Every call made through VoIP represents a potential loss for wireless operators. As more consumers and businesses get used to VoIP calling, it could lead to a significant erosion in revenues for telephone carriers. However this does not mean that they are sitting idle while VoIP operators capture the market.

For one thing, carriers have realized that the bulk of their revenue will be from the data usage rather than voice calls in the future. Wireless operators such as Verizon and AT&T offer unlimited calling and texting but charge significantly more for data. Unlimited data plans which used to be fairly common have now been practically eliminated from the service offerings of practically all the mobile carriers.

All the 4 major operators are also readying their VoLTE networks for launch in the next few years. Shifting voice calls from 2G and 3G networks over to LTE will allow operators to compete with VoIP service providers for customers. Even though many consumers switch to VoIP services at present, more people are likely to remain with their current carrier if they start offering VoLTE services. Consolidating voice, texts and data onto one network will allow operators to provide more interactive services such as conference calling on top of their existing infrastructure.

With the rumored entry of corporations such as Google and Comcast into the VoIP industry, existing carriers will have to step up their game and adapt to new realities if they do not want to be left behind. Whether they have the ability and the will to do so remains to be seen.

Bhagwad is an expert consultant in OnSIP business VoIP. He also specializes in SIP VoIP PBX. To learn more, click here.

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