The Three Cornerstones of Voice (R)evolution
The traditional voice market may be declining, but carriers continue to offer greater value than ever to the wider telecommunications ecosystem as we move closer towards an IP-based era.
TeleGeography estimates that total revenues from wholesale international voice stood at $12.8 billion in 2010. It projects that revenues will drop to $11.1 billion by 2016, mainly due to regulatory mandates reducing mobile interconnection rates, which are the largest determinant of wholesale termination rates.
During this period of transition in our market, we as an industry have both the imperative and the opportunity to evolve. We must continue to respond to the changing needs of the market, which is why we have chosen this year’s event to share how the ITW founders and all international carriers can take their place in the new IP world.
These are the three key messages that the ITW founders intend to follow to form the foundation of a sustainable and profitable future:
Growing and innovating to stay fit: carriers want assured seamlessness and interoperability of services as they represent opportunities for growth. Through industry innovation, each and every carrier will be able to bring something new to the table and contribute to an enriched service offering.
Promoting quality in the service layer: drawing on their expertise in international traffic management, carriers can offer different levels of quality and fraud control. Carriers must continue to lead the way in the wider telecoms ecosystem by striving to deliver the highest QoS and enhance their service layer. This will become particularly crucial in an IP environment, where focusing on interoperability will also help lead to an enhanced quality of IP services.
Making connectivity valuable in the IP world: the international connectivity that the industry continues to offer gives carriers the chance to remain successful in the new world of IP. As an industry, we need to overcome interworking issues in order to deliver value added services on a global scale. Each carrier will continue to work hard to ensure greater connectivity and value in the IP world.
The ITW founders include senior executives from A1 Telekom Austria, AT&T Wholesale, BICS,BT, Capacity magazine, China Telecom, Chughwa Telecom, Deutsche Telekom ICSS, iBasis, IDT Telecom, Orange, PLDT, REACH (now Telstra Global), Rostelecom, SingTel, Sprint, Tata Communications, Telecom Italia Sparkle, Telecom New Zealand International, Telefónica, Telekom Malaysia and TeliaSonera International Carrier.
