The death of the landline

April 19, 2012

A new survey, released by inetwork and ATLANTIC-ACM, is making big claims about communications technology.

According to the survey, 74% of US wholesale voice buyers say the disruptive technology trend that will most affect their business is "The Death of the Landline." Of course, here at TransNexus, we know that SIP-based communications are replacing the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

The numbers tell a striking story about the dramatic changes in how service providers will offer—and end-users will consume—telephony services. Key findings tied to disruption in the communication services market include:

Seventy-four percent of respondents noted that the death of the office landline—the desk phone—will be the single most disruptive force in voice services, anticipating the continued penetration of mobile devices by business users.

Seventy-two percent of respondents placed the migration to 100 percent VoIP over long-term evolution (LTE) as a close second in market disruption, representing the continued blurring of the lines between wireless carriers and VoIP service providers.

Seventy percent of respondents noted the death of “Plain Old Telephone Service” (POTS)as the third most disruptive factor, with providers of legacy phone services looking to gain efficiencies and offer end-users the enhanced features only available from IP-based platforms.

Nearly half of respondents cited new competition as their biggest threat, beating out the more traditional threats of pricing pressure or market consolidation. New entrants approaching telecom from the Software as a Service (SaaS) perspective will more aggressively compete in what has historically been the domain of a relatively small number of traditional dial tone providers.

“While certain resellers will claim there is still money to be made in Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), the overall market continues to decline,” said Dr. Judy Reed Smith, CEO of ATLANTIC-ACM. “End-user migration to wireless, VoIP and everything in between will drive shrinking demand for traditional wholesale voice services, leaving those providers unwilling to deviate from ‘business-as-usual’ in the dust.”