Service Expansion Key to Grow IP Voice Services Revenue

The growth continuum in consumer demand for existing services is hard for service providers to gauge these days, tied as it is to the overall economic picture. To sustain revenues, service providers should be looking at their various options to expand existing services portfolios, while minimizing take rate risks and capital outlays.

For some types of service providers, this is easier than it sounds. For example, MSOs certainly face tough competition from both the incumbents and aggressive VoIP competitors, but they have agility and a certain degree of customer “lock” on their side.

Barring additional significant incremental pricing initiatives for consumers, take rates for triple play services are projected to level off, as their early customer acquisition base for voice services has settled in’

To continuing driving subscriber growth and revenue stabilization, MSOs should look to aggressively expand their consumer and business services portfolios with new services that enliven and complement their existing VoBB core.

For example, rich new services such as affordable credit-limited International packages can attract subscribers who now turn to third party flat rate and free providers to keep in touch with friends and family, and help drive small businesses with international interests to reevaluate their existing carrier relationships. Other convenient, adaptable services such as customer-branded reservationless conferencing also help tip the scales in favor of SMB migration to MSOs, again at the expense of competing third party providers.

The key is finding and customizing feature rich solutions that readily integrate with and enliven existing custom core MSO voice services, that deploy economically and that can deliver the as-needed scale essential to meet the MSO’s massive potential usage rates. Between the challenges of the current economic climate and the potential emerging to add incremental wireless voice services, now is a good time for MSOs to start thinking about integrating new IP voice services beyond their baseline triple play. And proven IP services such as conferencing and credit limited calling are ideal places to start.

Ken Osowski is vice president of marketing and product management for Pactolus Communications Software, a provider of next-generation IP communication solutions for either converged TDM/IP and/or SIP-enabled VoIP networks.