2016
Wi-Fi Calling and Why Voice Still and Will Matter
There is a tendency for all of us in the communications industry when we think about not just the future but the present of networks and their traffic to, in essence, marginalize, and in some cases write-off, voice communications. After all, as the world goes all-IP, voice becomes a commodity, the next generation workforce appears voice-averse for communicating in real-time (not necessarily true since real-time video should be viewed as just enhanced voice), etc., voice seems to be of little concern. This is a mistaken impression.
Realities are that voice remains a dominant form of human-to-human (or human-to-machine) interaction. It is both mission critical for CSP fortunes and sustainability in a world going “mobile first”, as well as a major tool in the arsenals of cable operators and OTT providers as they seek to create comprehensive and immersive customer experience in order to better compete. In fact, voice revenues still account for almost half of mobile operator revenues worldwide.
This issue of competition is to say the least non-trivial. In a recent study, 74 percent of users said they would be willing to switch operators for better coverage at home and in the office. In addition, 61 percent of IT decision makers say their business did not have reliable coverage. Add to this that 80 percent of mobile calls occur indoors, and it becomes abundantly clear that the quality of indoor coverage has a dramatic impact on the customer experience and their propensity to churn. This is where Wi-Fi Calling has become crucial for operators of all types as it extends the reach of any network to capture customer traffic. And, in a world, which I have characterized previously as being one dominated by the “Hotel California Effect,” where the goal of a service provider is to have customers check out any time they want but never leave their billing environment, providing high-performance, secure and ubiquitously accessible voice is paramount. Wi-Fi Calling (aka VoWi-Fi) fits the bill.
To read the entire article please click here: Source: Telecom Signaling
