May 21, 2004 Boonton, NJ -- The telecommunications industry is focused on the market share battle between local telephone companies and cable television companies for the residential telephone service. However, IP telephony services represent a more lucrative per-customer opportunity for cable MSOs, which pass by more than 3 million small businesses with their hybrid fiber-coax networks, says a new research study released by The Insight Research Corp.
According to the report "Cable Telephony in Small Businesses: The Competitive Threat to ILECs 2004-2009," small businesses will purchase bundled voice and high-speed data services at three to four times the price of residential bundles of voice, data, and basic TV services. Phone services including IP telephony for small businesses will generate $342 million for cable companies this year, the study predicts; however, when voice is combined with cable modem services, cable operators could rake in almost $2.5 billion by the end of 2004. Based on an examination of the cable operators' networks, Insight quantified the numbers of business telephone lines accessible to IP telephony and other cable telephony solutions, assessed the line loss risk to the local telephone companies, and forecasted cable company revenue potentials.
"Cox and CableVision have already started selling to small businesses, and the other cable operators undoubtedly have their crosshairs set on the local phone company's business customers. For example, cable operators are within reach of more than 8.8 million small business phone lines in the SBC territories and more than 3.2 million small business lines in the BellSouth operating area," says Insight Research President Robert Rosenberg. "These cable operators have the economic incentive to grab those small business customers since a business will generate several hundred dollars more per month than a residential subscriber."
A free report excerpt, table of contents, and ordering information for "Cable Telephony in Small Businesses: The Competitive Threat to ILECs 2004-2009" can be found online here. The full, 111-page report is available immediately for $3995 (hard copy). Adobe Acrobat (PDF) report licenses are also offered.