Could U.K. Fixed Line Voice Fall 50%?

It is hard to say where fixed network voice adoption would stand, were most consumers not buying voice as part of a multi-product bundle.

To be blunt, one way to get people to buy something they might not want, is to make the purchase of that product a prerequisite for buying a product in high demand.

Most observers might agree that fixed voice services are bought at a higher rate because they are bundled with Internet access and entertainment video, which now are the key services supplied by a fixed network.

In other cases, voice adoption is bolstered because consumers on telephone networks must buy voice to get Internet access.

Some might say the requirement to buy voice to get Internet access artificially boosts voice purchasing.

But in other markets where such requirements are not in place, bundled services have been quite effective at stemming fixed network subscription losses as well.

Some 80 percent of United Kingdom households now have fixed broadband, while 60 percent access the Internet routinely on their mobile devices. For the percentage of consumers purchasing a DSL-based service from a telco, that automatically means a voice line purchase.

Customers who buy cable TV operator Internet access might not have to do so. Perhaps 26 percent to 30 percent of U.K. households use cable TV for Internet access.

Fixed broadband connections in the United Kingdom were reported in 78 percent of households in 2015, compared to 73 percent in 2014.

The proportion of households with fixed telephony and mobile telephony remained stable, at 84 percent for fixed and 95 percent for mobile in 2015. Many would argue the continuing fixed adoption would not be as high as 84 percent without bundling.

In fact, even with bundling, in some markets, fixed line voice service is being abandoned.

In 2013, About 41 percent of U.S. households used mobile phones exclusively for voice service, a study by the National Center for Health Statistics found.

For the same period of 2014, mobile-only households had grown to about 44 percent.

That might suggest that, absent a mandatory provision to buy voice to get Internet access,  fixed voice adoption might be as low as 40 percent in the United Kingdom.

In other words, up to half of present voice consumers in the United Kingdom might choose not to buy, were it not a requirement for getting Internet access.

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Facebook will keynote Spectrum Futures in Singapore, Sept. 10, 2015, featuring Chris Weasler, Facebook and Internet.org global head of spectrum policy & connectivity planning.Facebook and Internet.org.

Other confirmed speakers will discuss spectrum sharing between LTE operators, spectrum sharing between Wi-Fi and LTE, new access platforms and the critical role spectrum plays for coming 5G networks.

At the same time, the intimate relationship between applications (Internet of Things), core networks (SDN. NFV, cloud computing, fog computing) and all access networks will be examined.

In the coming next generation network, clearly separating spectrum and mobile networks from Wi-Fi and fixed network access, core networks and cloud infrastructure, will be nearly impossible.

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