NAMIC Notebook...
Cable industry VoIP revenue will exceed $1 billion by 2006 and is projected to grow to $8 billion by 2010, said Dallas Clement, Cox Communications senior vp-strategy & product development. Clement told a packed crowd at a NAMIC session in N.Y.C. that VoIP enables voice over a high-speed network and offers cable operators a new revenue stream. Phil Giordano, Vonage vp-sales, agreed, saying his company’s offerings had grown 30% monthly since VoIP service launched in 2002. As of Aug. 31, Vonage had 248,458 lines in operation, Giordano said. The company was originally going to work in partnership with cable operators but found few takers. “There was this analysis paralysis, so we decided to go directly to consumers,” he said. Vonage is now starting to collaborate with 2nd-tier and smaller cable companies, he said.
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“People want to control the user experience,” said Claude Pettus, senior mgr.-global analyst relations, Siemens Information & Communications Networks. About 53% of consumers said video calling was the most important new feature, a research study by Nortel Networks found. “It really is a matter of personalization of communications,” Pettus said. More companies are recognizing the need to have marketing materials in more languages and do “one-on- one” marketing to ethnic groups to explain what these enhanced communications technologies can offer, Pettus said. Vonage joined with a Housing and Urban Development department to offer a variety of services in an urban community. “You have to think outside of the paradigm,” Giordano said. Most people use VoIP to bring long distance costs. But what concerns customers most about VoIP is whether 911 will work, Clement said.
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Comcast is using digital video recorders (DVRs) and on demand to compete against satellite, said Page Thompson, Comcast “On demand is going to be the weapon to beat satellite,” Thompson said. About 76% of Comcast’s digital subscribers use on demand. Thompson equated the service to home shopping. “When somebody gets a DVR in the home the on-demand numbers go up. They want to watch TV on their own terms,” he said. DVR allows multiethnic marketing pitches by offering niche-oriented content, said Bindu Crandall, dir.-mktg., Scientific-Atlanta. Her company’s research showed DVR use had a broad appeal, and low-income customers were more satisfied with the product than higher earners. Comcast’s research showed ethnic subscribers among “our most aggressive users,” Thompson said.