I had a chat yesterday with Ian Angus, a telecom consultant who has been
involved in the industry for more than 20 years. He has a nice take on VOIP
in Canada:
“For all the talk in 2004, there wasn't a lot of activity. What we saw most
notably in 2004 was VOIP turned the corner as far as enterprise systems are
concerned. For [consumers], it's nice stuff but you are still talking about
low, single-digit market share. In 2005, you will see the cablecos and
carriers come out with significant VOIP. Shaw and Rogers are coming out with
a product that will be much more like traditional voice service than VOIP
services such as Vonage.”
Angus Telemanagement, the firm headed up by Ian and his wife, Lis, marked
the end of an era this week with the sale of their Telemanagement monthly
newsletter to Decima Research. After 22 years, Ian and Lis want to focus on
other areas such as consulting and speeches.
Speaking of Vonage, it has reduced the price of its residential premium
unlimited plan by 13% to $39.99 in Canada. The package offers unlimited calling
anywhere in North America, a bundle of features and low prices for 100 minutes of
international calls. Is this the sign of a price war in Canada or another
example of Vonage's aggressive pricing strategy to preempt competition?