Retention of Subscribers in the $163 Billion US Voice Services Market will be Critical for Service Providers, says Insight Research Corp.

LONGPORT, N.J., Feb. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Facebook's $16 Billion acquisition of startup WhatsApp is the latest example of how the mature voice market is being challenged by alternative communications mediums. While the $500 billion US telecommunications service market will continue to grow over the next few years, Insight Research forecasts that voice revenues — wireline and wireless — will decline at a 4.8 percent annual rate as consumers continue to "cut cords" and businesses migrate to VoIP platforms. Billions of revenue dollars are at stake for incumbent voice service providers, as they seek to preserve customers through the transition to VoIP and 4G LTE wireless services.

Insight Research's market analysis study, "US Wireless & Wireline Voice: Threats and Opportunities, 2013-2018" provides a detailed look at the trends in voice communications, including the migration to VoIP and wireless services, the impact of substitute over the top (OTT) applications, machine to machine (M2M) applications, and the cannibalization of the $11 Billion text messaging business. As residential and business customers migrate to these new services and applications it is critical for incumbent service providers to retain these customers, who are the same users that are seeking the most advanced data and video services.

"Retaining customers will require innovations centered around service bundles and lower pricing, while maintaining profitably will be challenging for providers as customers flee to alternative communication mediums – such as social networking," says Fran Caulfield, Research Director at Insight Research. "Service providers can no longer rely on mature technologies, such as text messaging, to offset declines in voice revenues, while the current handset subsidy model is not sustainable," Caulfield concluded.

"US Wireless & Wireline Voice: Threats and Opportunities, 2013-2018" provides a comprehensive analysis of US voice services marketplace, including details by service provider, subscription plans, subscriber trends, pricing bundles, text messaging, call volumes and minutes of use. The report provides Insight's five year forecasts of revenues, units, and pricing, segmented by service, technology, sales channel, and device type.

A free report excerpt, table of contents, and ordering information is available online at http://www.insight-corp.com/reports/usvoice13.asp . The full, 130-page report is available in electronic format (PDF) and can be ordered immediately.

Visit our website at http://www.insight-corp.com/ or call (973) 541-9600 for details.

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SOURCE Insight Research Corporation