t has many scrambling to control the future of VoIP. Companies ranging from the traditional common carriers to the newer next generation telcos are all scrapping for a share of this lucrative market. The VoIP portion of this emerging market is expected to grow at a rate of 149 percent annually through 2001 to about $1.89 billion dollars with high estimates of $9.4 billion by 2002. With this much money and revenue at stake, local and state governments, which derive millions of dollars from taxing voice carriers, are also taking notice of this emerging, unregulated threat. Another issue of this technology is the fact that there has yet to be a standardized set of protocols for the manufacturers and vendors. This is leading to proprietary hardware and software, which all leads to incompatibility and increased expense. As with all technologies and advances, the bottom line is the dollar. These are just a few of the many issues facing global adoption of VoIP.THE PLAYERS INVOLVED To follow this technology and understand its implications, one should be aware of the players involved in the game and know each ones motivation. The Big Three. The Big Three players are AT&T, MCI WorldCom, and Sprint. They perhaps have the most to lose and the trickiest balancing act to perform. They must take special precautions to ensure they do not cannibalize their very lucrative PSTN. The traditional phone system is over an $100 billion a year business. In terms of market share, VoIP is barely a blip on the Big Three’s radar screens. However, these big carriers have not let this technology go unnoticed. AT&T offers a calling card that allows its user VoIP for as low as 3.5 cents a minute. AT&T has recognized this new threat and is aggressively doing something about it. They have hired new talent and leadership; acquired a new facilities-based business company in TCG; bought a facilities-based consumer company in Tele-Communicatio...
