Arbitrage Won't Drive VoIP Forever

To this point, global VoIP usage has been driven by price arbitrage. But global calling rates are coming down, so that form of arbitrage will prove less interesting to end users at some point. At the same time, wireless usage continues to climb. And while there might be some room for price arbitrage in the wireless domain, it will be found precisely where arbitrage as proven most significant in wireline calling: international termination.

That probably doesn't mean price arbitrage forfeits its key role in user adoption any time soon, simply because there are other cost elements to arbitrage. The U.S. cable operators, in fact, have extended price arbitrage into the local calling realm, offering VoIP-powered services that simply mimic the PSTN, but arbitrage the recurring access revenue stream, not the minutes. Inevitably, though, at some point, VoIP simply won't be about price arbitrage any longer, because there won't be much left to arbitrage. Users will have found they are paying for services and features way beyond the ability to place or receive a call, and service and app providers will have adjusted accordingly. A "soft landing," you might say.