An interesting opinion.....
February 27, 1998
Public Data Services Europe
Market Analysis
Steve Wallage
"This Market Analysis examines the future of IP-only carriers in the Western European telecommunications marketplace. It also examines Internet telephony providers and how they are set up and selling their services. Although this market is still very embryonic, Dataquest predicts that both the offerings and providers will evolve rapidly in the next few years. The winners will be those providers that can move away from competing on price and make Internet telephony part of a value-added proposition, and those that work with, rather than compete against, telecommunications carriers."
"Already we are seeing Internet telephony providers working with owners of large TCP/IP networks, offering voice on corporate intranets or setting up their own TCP/IP networks to avoid the problems inherent in using the public network. One major element to be considered here is that, in order to survive and differentiate themselves, Internet telephony providers must offer more than just telephony, which is an increasingly low-margin business on major routes. This could include a variety of elements such as integrated Web offerings, integrated call centers, conferencing, and other integrated voice, data and, potentially, video offerings."
It seems software applications and services will become more and more important. I hope Frank's "vision" includes offerings in these areas, other than just the fax service.
Judith |
