The Current State of the Telecom Industry in the US

Every industry goes through the process of evolution. Similarly, the US telecom industry is also seeing a great shift in the market share. There are many factors that have influenced the various industry players; which are internet phone service providers, cellular networks, and fixed landline phone services and free phone. Let us discuss the state of each one of these sectors and the expected outcome of this change on their market shares.

Fixed landline subscribers

Landline phone has already seen its peak. Owing to the changing technology, landline phone services are seeing a gradual decline in subscribers. There are many reasons which have lead to this decrease. The first factor that has hardly affected landline phone services is the cost. An average US customer (estimate) spends around $600 per year on landline phone, which makes it the costliest option available in the market. Despite of the fact that the consumers pay so high, they are still not able to get the quality that they want. Landline phone services still use copper wires for making and receiving phone calls, which seriously affects call quality. AT&T, Sprint, and Qwest Communications are seriously thinking of future survival strategies. On top of that, these landline phones are fixed and cannot be used anywhere else. Similarly, rain and other weather factors do seriously raise doubts about the reliability of this service. Fixed landline subscribers are therefore shifting to other phone services. And similarly, a lot of people now own cell phones which make fixed landline phones redundant in most of the cases.

Cellular network services

Cell phones are on the rise. The increase in number of subscribers isn’t that great but still it means a lot of market share captured. The primary reason for people shifting to cellular network is convenience of use. The device itself is portable and can be used anywhere. Similarly, many people are also using smart phones with GSM and CDMA networks which are also resulting in increased number of subscribers. However, the growth in market share of cellular network is expected to get stagnant around 2014 when the market would have already saturated. Cell phones are pretty expensive to use. Despite of their portability, they are still bound by their network reach. Similarly, most of the services do charge a heavy fixed line rent on monthly basis. The cell phone costs around $400 to an average user in the US. Therefore, cell phone market share will grow in the US but at a slower rate. Few of the key cellular networks in the US include; T-Mobile, MetroPCS, U.S Cellular, and Cricket Wireless.

VoIP phone service

VoIP phone service is cheapest of all telecom options available to the consumers. There are hundreds of VoIP phone service providers that offer their services to customers in the US. Customers can get economical call plans from Vonage, Axvoice, Comcast, Skype and many other reliable internet phone services. Internet phone service providers’ market share is expected to grow at a much faster rate. There are several reasons which are responsible for this fast growth of VoIP. The first reason is the immense difference of cost. Unlike cell phones and landline, internet phone users spend just around $100 per year on their phone bill. Secondly, VoIP service can be used through PC, ATA, and smart phones. This kind of usage flexibility is only available to an internet phone user. Lastly, mobile VoIP technology is also on the rise owing to the availability of 4G (fourth generation internet). All these factors have resulted in increased demand for the VoIP technology. And it is expected to outgrow in market share during the coming years.