Consumers Say They Are Reducing Spending

The latest ChangeWave consumer survey, conducted in late September 2008, shows another major leg downward for U.S. consumer spending. At the same time, confidence in the economy has dropped to exceptionally low levels and looks to stay that way for three months, ChangeWave says. 

Of course, consumer spending has been trending lower for about 15 months. More than half of  4,067 respondents  (52 percent) now say they'll spend less money over the next 90 days, for example. About 18 percent say they'll spend more. 

More respondents say they are spending less because they are paying down debt (29 percent) or saving more (26 percent). Generally higher prices and higher energy costs get top blame for reduced spending. 

Liquidity Impact on Service Providers?

Just about the only thing most people seemed to want to talk about, at some meetings during the recent Comptel convention, heavy with providers of wholesale communications capacity and retail service providers, was the possible impact of the banking crisis on the telecom business. It's a fair enough question.

For the most part, it is not good news. In a capital-intensive business, capital stringency is never a good thing. Some acquisitions will not happen, which means some asset sellers and buyers will be unhappy. 

Embarq, the fourth-largest U.S. phone company, has been trying to sell itself for weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports. But those plans are tabled for now because potential partners haven't been able to raise capital for a deal. That probably is going to be an issue for any would-be buyers of Nextel as well. 

Some network expansions will be put on hold, while others will be slowed, the reason being that available cash has to be funneled to operations, debt service, dividend payments and other uses when borrowing and credit are not easy options. 

On the retail side of the market, one would have to expect some organizations will delay planned purchases of new phone or other premises equipment, delay opening new branches or take other "headcount-related" moves that typically spur the purchase of new communications services and equipment. There are, for example, some indications that wireless "phone replacement" services offered by MetroPCS and Cricket Communications gained ground in the third quarter of 2008. 

MetroPCS Communications "pre-announced" an 82 percent rise in third quarter 2008 profit on a 41 percent increase in total revenue. The company added 249,000 net subscribers in the third quarter, a development MetroPCS believes shows it is benefiting from customers cutting their land lines. 

Executives at firms supplying bandwidth products say it will be a quarter or two before it is possible to assess any economy-related impact on Ethernet or bandwidth products. Some particular markets, such as New York City, might see a drop-off from financial sector customers, for example. 

On the other hand, providers of core IP bandwidth should see a largely neutral environment as far as aggregate demand, though there could be some pricing pressure, as broadband mobile services and consumption of video continue to grow. 

Nobody is buying capacity "on spec," and nobody has done so since perhaps 2001, so there is not much potential damage on that front. The fundamental price-per-megabit trends seem intact, and consumption of bandwidth likewise seems still to be in line with recent years. Capacity providers, unlike most in the business, are used to steady, relatively predictable price declines and demand growth of roughly 60 percent a year. 

And then there are the inevitable winners: companies that can tap credit to remove competitors from the market, grow service footprints and product lines, acquire human and other resources they might not have been able to afford recently.  So far, though, there is little firm evidence one way or the other about the potential impact of the liquidity problem. 

iPhone Probably Worth 7 Share Points

About 30 percent of U.S. consumers who purchased Apple’s new iPhone 3G from June through August 2008 switched from other mobile carriers to join AT&T, a new study by NPD Group finds. About 23 percent of consumers, on average, switched carriers between June and August 2008.

By some measures, then, AT&T got a seven-percent share boost from the iPhone.

Nearly half (47 percent) of new AT&T iPhone customers that switched carriers switched from Verizon Wireless, another 24 percent switched from T-Mobile, and 19 percent switched from Sprint.

Before the launch of the iPhone 3G, iPhone sales represented 11 percent of the consumer market for smart phones (January through May 2008); however, after the launch of iPhone 3G, Apple commanded 17 percent of the smartphone market (January through August 2008).

The average price of a subsidized smart phone sold between June and August 2008 was $174, down 26 percent from $236 during the same period last year.

Cox Not Infringing Verizon VoIP Patents, Jury Finds

Verizon Communications has lost its VoIP patent infringement case against Cox Communications Inc, the Wall Street Journal reports. Verizon filed papers in Eastern District Court of Virginia on Jan. 11, 2008 alleging that Cox violated eight patents related to the technology used for completing IP voice calls. The lawsuit came after Verizon had successfully argued that Vonage was infringing its patents. 

Verizon included in the lawsuit claims of infringement of  four patents Vonage was found to have violated in an earlier case. Verizon was awarded $120 million in damages in that case. But the jury in the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that Cox Communications did not infringe on six Verizon patents.

In addtion to Cox Communications, other leading cable operators perhaps most relieved of all, as it might be hard to defend the notion that any of the leading cable providers were innocent, had Cox been found to be infringing. But other indpendent VoIP providers also have to be breathing a little easier as well. 

Had Cox been found to be infringing, it isn't so clear how any other cable company might have escaped litigation, cable or independent VoIP providers alike. 

Verizon apparently has recently reached a deal with Comcast in which both companies agreed not to sue each other over patent issues for five years. A Verizon lawsuit against Charter Communications for VoIP patent infringement is still pending.

Netflix Warns of Slowdown

Netflix says its third quarter revenue and earnings per share will fall within prior guidance but that subscriber numbers will fall “just below” the low end of guidance.

“Net subscriber growth in July was in line with expectations but August was unusually weak”, says CFO Barry McCarthy. 

There could be lots of reasons for a single-month slowdown. It is possible potential new subscribers were distracted by the Olympics or the Presidential election. But some quickly will jump to the conclusion that economic stringency is pinching Netflix the way some expect a sluggish performance for premium cable channels or perhaps video on demand. 

IP Transit Prices Fall

Median monthly IP transit prices for 1,000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) ports in major U.S. and European cities ranged from $10 to $14 per Mbps in the second quarter of 2008, report researchers at TeleGeography. 

IP transit prices in Asia remain far higher than in the United States and Europe, which explains the surge in undersea cable construction across the Pacific Ocean.

Long Tail of Social Networking

Nearly half (46%) of those who use social networks have also visited a social network through a mobile phone, according to ABI Research. Of these, nearly 70% have visited MySpace and another 67% had visited Facebook.

No other social networking site reached 15% adoption mobile adoption. That is what one would expect if the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule or "long tail") holds.

"As in the online social networking space, there is clearly a large gap between the big two (MySpace and Facebook) social networks and the others," says research director Michael Wolf.  "ABI Research believes this is because consumers do not want to recreate entirely new and separate social networks for mobile, but rather want to tap into their existing social network and have it go with them via the mobile phone. For most, this means MySpace, Facebook, or even both."

The biggest features consumers use when accessing a social network on their phone is checking for comments and messages from their friends, with both of these features registering above 50% for mobile social network users.

Posting status updates also has proven popular, with over 45% of mobile social users letting others what they are up to via their phone.

"The social network is increasingly becoming a central hub for communication across online and mobile domains for many consumers," says Wolf. "To a degree, it allows them to centralize messaging, communication and even digital media consumption through a centralized property on various screens."

That is something enterprise social networks might hope to replicate.