Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Lessons from Other Carriers

Jon Arnold has an article that breaks down the next-gen services that a Wyoming RLEC is providing. Besides POTS, copper, and wireless, VoIP, SIP Trunking, back-up, TV and IPTV, free Internet training classes and High-speed over wireless, copper and fiber. Does any of this sound familiar? What pieces are you not offering? What are you waiting for?

Jon writes about Embarq's innovation: "eGo phone, which integrates telephony with the Internet on a cordless handset. While not as sophisticated as the iPhone, eGo adds communications richness and Web services to the home phone experience, making landline telephony more compelling for subscribers." Sounds close to the Verizon Hub landline phone, but does demonstrate some innovation that has been lacking in the ILEC space for years. I hope it survives the merger with CenturyTel.

One that stands out for me is "Social media – while rural markets may appear as laggards, TCT thinks otherwise. For them, the use of Facebook and Twitter are natural tools to maintain connectedness with their subscribers. Rural markets are very community-oriented, and for TCT, Web 2.0 is just another way to keep those ties strong."

No comments: