Synopsis
Archived report. This report was archived in 2008 and has not been updated since. Despite retaining their role as cash cows for incumbent operators, fixed and mobile voice services are progressively being overtaken by broadband. Increasingly, operators will need to take a holistic view of the market, necessitating a total review of this 100-year-old product. For various reasons, fixed-line operators have not introduced significant new products, services or cost-saving technologies in the same way that mobile operators have. There is certainly room for new premium voice services, based on more intuitive navigation, CD sound quality and interactivity between handset and TV. Fixed-line voice will probably be with us forever, but will become a subset of broadband, instead of the other way around. Broadband will combine voice and data, providing the opportunity to open up a number of triple play markets. High mobile charges are also an interesting target for VoIP over wireless broadband. This report includes BuddeComm’s analysis of the future of voice, with a focus on fixed, mobile and VoIP.