New Technologies Versus Fixed Telephones - Essay Example

Communication goes tech, penny ‘wise’ The cellular phone and internet revolution sweeping across the globe has seen an unprecedented growth in the sector. There is no doubt that many have seen better days with the advent of handheld telephone devices as well as the Internet, which have by now revolutionized the whole spectrum of technology. However, there are losers too, rather, those on the brink of being obsolete. This can be seen as a global phenomenon. The case of Canada is no different. Fixed line telephones can be seen as bearing the brunt of a technological revolution sweeping across the airwaves above the regions north of the Americas too. The obvious convenience and quick access to help in emergencies have spurred the customer to shift from fixed line telephone usage toward mobile phones. And most of the time, service provide are seen taking the lead to offer exceptional plans which may include abundant amounts of air time and even less rates with regard to international roaming. Further, getting online too is being made easy through the cellular handset, which the fixed line telephone user can never dream of. With the internet turning out to be an important part of everyday life, mobile phones most of the time, while on travel or on holiday, help the customer log on to the World Wide Web without much hassle. Customer experiences have also given the thumbs on this, complaining that the fixed phone lines often turn out to be too noisy to allow a modem connection at any speed.  Ample research done on this suggests that the mobile telephones have overtaken fixed telephones in terms of subscribers. So is the case with traffic and revenue. Besides, fixed-line operators have begun having to face competition from new entrants in local, national and international long-distance telecommunications and Internet markets, as well as substitution from their mobile counterparts. In such an event of fixed line phones facing an era of being obsolete in the near future, it would be important to study what causes this phenomenon, and to look at what really ails the fixed-line telephone sector. The ever increasing spread of mobile phones and easy access to voice over internet protocol (VoIP) facilities have stood in the way of fixed line operators, ever since these technologies began to blossom. More subscriptions meant more revenue for service providers. As more customers began logging on to these new-age technologies, users diminished with regard to fixed line operators. More important was the cost involved. Long distance calls came for peanuts, as compared to the costs involved in making such calls over the fixed phone. Many a mobile phone company took the leap toward more revenues seeing the vast opportunity before them. More customers meant more revenues and almost all the operators began doling out the lollies to lure more users. More exciting offers began to flow in to the ears of cellular phone users making them go for it. Fixed line telephones had the great disadvantage of staying fixed to some corner of the customer’s home or office. Cellular phones meant for the customer speech, text, picture and video communication even while on the move. Companies too began reaping the benefits. Profits soared making them big players. Having phone accounts with major players turned a status symbol too, in the long run. September-end 2006 figures posted by one of the major players in the Canadian mobile communication market, for instance, would provide us with a fair idea on what plane the mobile telephony business is headed for. A report on the current fiscal’s third quarter results posted by leading long distance telecommunication services player Phonetime says the company generated an increase of 23.5 per cent increase in revenue to $5.7 million. This was against the $4.6 million posted during the same period of 2005. To make it further clear, the increase was nearly 1,085,000 dollars. Phonetime is Canadas largest and most advanced private long-distance and VoIP telecommunications networks with points-of-presence in 40 major Canadian urban areas. This is somewhere the Canadian telecommunication business stands. It is not just Phonetime on the growth tangent. Many other players who do VoIP communication have similar stories to boast of. Hand in hand goes the dip in fortunes of fixed line telephone operators. The higher the VoIP players climb, the lower the fixed players drop. Less or negligible usage is definitely taking fixed line operators down the ladder. And, of late, the climb down has accelerated. Adding to the trouble of fixed lines is the increasing internet usage in Canada. A recent study had revealed that two-thirds of adult Canadians surf the internet. The nation’s urban adults spent more time on the World Wide Web. The survey brought to light the fact that the internet has in fact changed the way many Canadians see things. This applies to what they have discovered on airtime space too. While calls got going out of Canada to destinations elsewhere via the internet, VoIP saw itself being the winner. Cheap and convenient, the Net provided access to near and dear ones sitting on the other side of the globe. A fixed line operator also provided such facilities of calling a number anywhere any time, but then they came for a price, that too a bulky amount. When the internet took over, all myths the fixed line operators as well as users had been nursing all the while, began crashing down in pieces. ‘Cheap calls at my convenience’ became the catch line. And thus, the fixed line operators saw themselves being branded as things of the past. Along came other facilities. Services like Skype and the like debuted on the net making telecommunication free, almost. Register an account on the internet and talk. That is what Skype is all about. As an advertisement applauding Skype said, ‘if you’re in the US or Canada, you can use SkypeOut to call any landline or mobile number in both the USA and Canada for free. If you’re in the US or Canada and calling any other country, or if you’re in any other country and calling landline or mobile numbers in the US or Canada, the standard rates apply. Skype-to-Skype calls continue to be globally free, so no changes there.. The catchword here is FREE. When making calls come free, who needs a fixed line phone which charges per minute, per second. No wonder the facility of a receiver at the end of a cord fixed to a weighty instrumet doesn’t charm anyone these days. Partcularly when one wields a mobile phone, or better still if one is glued to the internet. The modern trends in the increasing world of wireless communication usage are sure to make the traditional telephone services market obsolete. Canada is just one leaf out of a global story book.   The increase in number of cellular phone providers, who keep on changing the definition of communication by embedding videos, text and pictures interspersed with speech into every call one makes is set to support the idea of dumping the traditional fixed phone. Furthermore, the increase of internet usage with value additions like wireless broadband internet access without the need t connect to an existing phone line would aid a faster death to the fixed phone. Staying connected for hours together through the magic of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology would further let the user to make long distance calls through the internet for fewer burdens on the wallet. Competitive prices offered by the players in competition with one another would lure more customers to these technologies. The fading away of the traditional, fixed telephone into the ages has begun. The new-age technologies would aid a faster shift in this regard. After all, in an age of new technologies and competitive prices, the fixed line telephone which spells inconvenience and added costs is out of place. References Heather Dryburgh. Changing our ways: Why and how Canadians use the Internet, Community Accounts. Statistics Canada. 2006. Canadian Internet Use Survey. http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060815/d060815b.htm Bakker, Cathy. 2000. Information and communications technologies and electronic commerce in Canadian industry (Statistics Canada). Newsblaze. 2006. Daily News. Phonetime Releases Q3 2006 results. (www.newsblaze.com) Wireless Internet Usage in Canada. 2005. Research, opinion and insights. IPOS News Center. (http://www.ipsos-na.com/ ) www.statscan.ca http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060913/d060913c.htm http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/051212/d051212a.htm http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/051108/d051108b.htm http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060815/d060815b.htm http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060405/d060405b.htm http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060509/d060509b.htm Read More