How Will the Telecoms Industry Respond to the Threat Posed by VoIP?
One of the most important developments in the telecoms industry in recent times has been the growth of mobile VoIP technology. Although still relatively early days for the mobile Voice over IP operators such as Truphone, it certainly seems they have the potential to to make some big waves in the industry. Some of the recent older mobile operators’ actions seem evidence of this with T-Mobile recently being forced to allow the use of Truphone over its network, having previously barred calls to Truphone allocated numbers.
While some industry insiders suggest that as VoIP prices tend towards zero, this is making it a increasingly hard industry to make any substantial profit in; the wider availability of low cost ultra fast broadband and has resulted in a huge increase in the availability of free Wi-Fi. As a result this is making mobile VoIP operators an increasingly attractive offer for consumers. The trend in the availability of new ’smart phones’ with the ability to run mobile VoIP client software, at ever falling prices is also, it could be argued, creating a tipping point in the industry.
We have recently seen T-Mobile introduce their VoIP service called @home giving customers the option of paying a single low monthly flat rate. However whilst the industry is finding home owners reluctant to abandon their fixed phone line completely, mobile VoIP companies have no such obstacle to contend with. The seamless integration of mobile VoIP software into the functionality of mobile phones, as well as the reduced cost of data-inclusive phone packages has resulted in a predictably fast growth in the mobile VoIP sector.
At present it has been reported that there are 4 million VoIP users in the United Kingdom, and this looks set to increase steadily. How established mobile phone operators will harness this remains to be seen but the decision to force T Mobile to allow calls to Truphone users surely sends out a crystal clear message that rather than try and resist the mobile VoIP operators, the entranched industry monoliths must find a way of embracing them.
One stumbling block which could have an influence on the take-up of mobile VoIP is security, with many highly visible stories highlighting the problems in making calls using VoIP. Another problem to contend with is ‘VoIP phishing’ where people are duped into giving up their personal data voluntarily after taking the ‘bait’ from a thief. This is also symptomatic of other VoIP security problems where unscrupulous would be thieves can tamper with the caller ID making it appear as though they are ringing from their own financial institutions. Once such issues have been resolved and fears allayed it is likely that mobile VoIP will become will become much more integral to peoples lives as people take the opportunity to turn their mobiles into VoIP phones.
