Future of (mobile) telephony

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I´ve been away a couple of days (with no chance to blog), working for a CNBC show. We were filming at a mayor ip telephony company, and I was quite amazed.

First, within just a few years they have managed to get a relatively geeky technology in mainstream use (already over 20% of households now have an internet phone). Then they have totally changed the pricing structure. Before you paid for each minute, now you pay a flat fee. The main incumbent (as in the previous state-run telephone company) has been forced to enter the ip telephone market. Thirdly, now about 50% of all international calls go via internet telephone.

This particular company, Telio, prides itself of good customer service. Well, this is a label that pretty much any company sticks on their hat. But Telio really live this mantra. While in the call centre, I actually witnessed employees laughing, chatting, and generally having a good time.I overheard one conversation, where a customer had not paid a bill and subsequently his outgoing calls had been blocked. Despite the subject matter, the tone of the conversation was surprizingly friendly.

In a recent survec conducted by the state telephony authority, Telio scored best in overall customer satisfaction. A fact the company is very pround of. Good to see for once a company that takes its customers serious.

We also got a view of what the future will bring. While some information was confidential, the two near-future additions will be wireless telephony and video telephony. Wireless telephony means basically, that you can use your WiFi-enabled mobile phone to make your calls over the internet, rather than a mobile network. Not only will the savings be tremedous, the call quality is better (because less compressed). My initial reaction was “so what?”. How often do I make mobile calls while I have access to wireless internet? Well, I learned that about 60% of all mobile calls are made either from home or the office. In other words, more than half the calls made on mobile networks could easilty be done over the internet. I am sure that the network operators hate this idea, but just as the main telephone companies have learned the hard way, it is best to adapt and not fight user-friendly technology.

Seeing the video quality of the next-generation video phones was also an eye-opener. Frame rates of 15-20 fps with 160×400 pixel screens (as you might have seen on “24“), are just around the corner. As a cameraman I wish they would use a bit more energy on getting the lens settings right, but the potential is great. Again, my first reaction was “so what?” - why would I want to use video telephony? But the manager from Telio made a nice example by saying that up until the telephone was developed by Graham Bell, the only way to speak with people was in face-to-face situations. Young children, when on the phone, suppose that the partner on the other end of the line can see all that they can see. It is just natural to be able to see the person you are talking with.

So, it seems that the future will bring more user-friendly, and cheaper, ways of communicating long-distance.