|
CLECs Gain Ground with SMBs
Friday May 08, 2009,
02:50 am ET
CEDAR HILLS, Utah, May. 08 /Patrick Oborn/ --
The way business connect to the digital universe is changing. More and more enterprises are
discovering the new broadband options made available to them through a series of cost cutting
measures by telecommunication providers. With the recent rush to consolidate, more and more
features are being crammed into the current service offerings, which continue to fall in price
bringing products like integrated T1 service into the price range of the vast majority of
small to medium-size businesses.
When asked about his recent decision to replace his TDM channelized T1 with a
SIP-enabled dynamic T1, Robert Probst, small business owner in San Diego, explained
that "it was really an easy decision to make. My business was growing and I couldn't
afford the cost of more voice trunks. When I learned that it was possible to
have up to 16 voice lines, and a full data T1 of high speed Internet bandwidth,
all on the same line, for under $500 - I was sold. I ended up expanding the
telecom capability of my business, improving the quality of my Internet connection,
and saved money while doing it."
"When we moved into our new location here in Los Angeles" commented John Baker, a
small business owner in San Diego, California, "we feared having to sign up for
commercial telephone and internet service. Until about a year ago, the services
being offered to us were TDM, which doesn't come cheap. Thankfully our Telarus
commercial telecom broker recommended that we give TelePacific a try, and we did.
One year later, we've never had an erroneous bill, our phone and data are all on
one single dynamic T1, and we can focus on what we do best - brokering mortgages."
The same basic economic model described in the book "Blue Ocean Strategies" is now being
applied to telecommunication services being offered to small businesses across the country:
more value for less money. According to many industry watch dogs, hundreds of thousands
of business will dump their POTs lines in favor of dynamic integrated T1 service within
the next 12 to 24 months, saving money in the process. With the introduction
of sub-$475 dynamic integrated T-service, customers are now able to receive up to 1.5 MBPS
of high-speed Internet with 24 digital phone lines all on one line, for less than what they
pay now for 5 regular phone lines" Stallions continued.
The golden age of telecommunications may be upon us, based upon our research and
recent uptick in customer satisfaction. Although the industry has years of
bad blood to overcome, recent innovations such as the dynamically configuring
T1 line are proof that progress is indeed being made.
As the competitive local exchange carriers continue to compete by introducing new and
exciting products at prices most small businesses can afford, they are coming up against
increasing resistance from the RBOCs who are forces to lease their own copper lines
to these CLECs at reduced rates. This reality has the CLECs rushing to deploy their
own networks and fiber routes, but the FCC may ultimately relax the mandate - leaving
all of us wondering how long the party is going to last.
|
|
|
