The Future is Here: Users Have More than One Voice Provider

The historic notion that a consumer or business user of voice services will choose a single supplier seems already to be a reality. In the past, executives including Ken Paker, TDS VP, have argued that, in the future, most end users will have multiple voice providers.

In that analysis, maybe one provider supplies what we now think of as "fixed line voice." Perhaps another supplies mobile voice, while others provide PC voice, or voice within the context of Internet applications. You might argue that already is the way most people actually use voice services and applications.

U.S. mobile penetration, for example, now is at 101 percent, meaning there are more phones in service than there are people, in the United States. U.S. mobile penetration has hit 101 percent, meaning there are more mobile devices in use than there are people in the United States, according to the latest tally from CTIA-The Mobile Association.

At the same time, hundreds of millions of people routinely use over the top services such as Skype or Google Voice, in particular situations.

At the same time, a study recently estimated that 45 percent of smart phone users avail themselves of  over the top messaging apps, largely in addition to their use of carrier-provided text messaging.