Report: telcos, cable companies to market VoIP aggressively in '05

A new research report released today sees an aggressive push for VoIP business by telcos and cable companies.

I already knew this, but my take on this situation was reinfoced when Iread the just-releasedFitch Ratings research report entitled 2005 U.S. Telcom Outlook.

If you register with Fitch, you can read the free report. But not all of you have the time to register, I've dug out the report for you.

The report is rather general and doesn't devote all that much specific coverage to VoIP. There are a few things you may want to know, however:

Fitch believes (as do I) that "numerous VoIP offerings will be marketed in 2005, parciularly those hosted by cable MSOs and incumbent wireline service providers." The report's authors foresee aggressive price-point-based marketing mostly aimed at enterprise business customers. Gathering momentum from these efforts will, according to Fitch, "garner access line penetration in the low to middle single-digit level" next year.

Well, OK. To me, "low to middle single-digit level" sounds an awful lot like 2 to 5 percent. But you know analysts. I'll be kindenough to spare you any impoliticmetaphors derived from a syllabic breakdown ofthe word. Let's just say they like to be officious.