The Triple Play Is About Data, Data And Data

from the any-place-at-any-time dept

There's been all this talk about how all the telcos and cable companies are now focused on becoming "triple play" providers, offering "voice, video and data." Some have even added the "fourth" play of wireless, but that's really just delivering the same triple play in a different way. However, perhaps it's time to rethink the whole triple play concept. It's not about "voice, video and data." That's misleading. Voice and video are data. It's about being a connection provider, and letting the data handle everything else. Already, Verizon is trying to rebrand itself as a broadband company, rather than a telco, and now, NTL in the UK has sold off its broadcast business to focus on its broadband business. When voice, video and plenty of other stuff can be handled as basic data on a broadband network, there is no triple play. It's all about getting as much bandwidth out there, and making it available any place at any time. Voice and video are just two applications of many.
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  1. identicon
    Dan Knapp, 3 Dec 2004 @ 11:31am

    Triple-play Lexicon

    Mike,

    Your comments are exactly correct re/triple-play definition. However, I suspect the reason why many RBOC's and Greenfields continue to use this "marketing phrase" is because many potential users of "triple-play" services would not know exactly what "bandwidth" would mean to them.

    For instance, I suspect that, hypothetically, if a salesman were to offer Joe and Joan Normal 10mbps for $50 or "Triple-play" voice, video and data for $60, they would still gladly sign up for the triple play. Why? Because it is immediately apparent what they are getting. It wouldn't matter to them that the bandwith option would cost, on a bit-per-bit basis, less than triple-play and be able to handle many more applications so long as they get "triple-play".

    JMHO

    DKnapp

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    JJ, 3 Dec 2004 @ 1:27pm

    Triple...

    Well yes they're data, but there's different mechanisms needed for each.

    For Video over IP you need compression, and software, and a set-top unit....

    For VoIP you need specialized hardware, and agreements, and a specialized QOS.....

    So they're isolated in discussions like that for a reason.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Etienne, 4 Dec 2004 @ 1:15am

    No Subject Given

    i guess we could only write our comment like this : 0011001110010000111001110, but obviously for the rest of the world, thoses "data" are much more comprehensible with kind of "triple play" concept. I think the origin of it is basicaly to let people understand "everything CAN come from only one plus". Many people find this magic you know !
    cheers !

    link to this | view in thread ]


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