"While VoIP service is still relatively new, the results seem to confirm the product is still in the early adopter stage of its life cycle in the U.S.," stated Charles White, Vice President of TNS Telecoms. "Consumers are receptive to the service quality, cost savings and other benefits VoIP has to offer, but companies need to make an increased effort to communicate these benefits to the marketplace."
Despite recent studies that have forecasted a proliferation of VoIP in the next few years, the survey shows that very few consumers have even heard of the service. This level of awareness is virtually unchanged from a year ago, when a poll found 27 percent of Internet users in the U.S. had heard of VoIP. Other studies have implied a disparity between consumer and business awareness, with most business decision makers aware of the service.
The fourth quarter of 2004 also marked the first decline in wireless spending across all U.S. households in almost three years, with the average amount spent at $50.59. Prior to this quarter, wireless spending had increased each quarter since first quarter 2002. Wired line services spend decreased again this quarter, extending a declining trend seen over the last few years.
"While the decline in the wireless market is relatively small, it does indicate that the growth in the wireless market is not immune to the pressures of the greater telecom market," remarked White. White continued, "As wireless handset growth reaches saturation, wireless providers must continue to offer new services to drive growth and consumer demand."
Telecom Industry Market Share and Tracking - Fourth Quarter 2004
Service Penetrations
Service Penetration Change from Last
Rate Quarter
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Local 96% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wired Line Long Distance 83% -2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wireless 71% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PC 76% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet At Home 67% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cable TV 60% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite TV 23% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PDA 14% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Paging 6% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wired Line Share of Revenue
(Share includes total spending on local, IntraLATA and InterLATA
long distance and local and LD integrated plan spending)
Company Share of Change from Last
Revenue Quarter
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Verizon 23% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SBC 19% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BellSouth 11% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AT&T 8% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Qwest 7% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MCI 4% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sprint 6% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other 22% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Share of Bundled Customers
(Share of households with bundled local and LD services from the
same provider)
Company Share of Change from Share of Change from
Households Last Quarter Revenue (1) Last Quarter
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Verizon 23% 1 24% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SBC 25% 1 22% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BellSouth 9% 0 11% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AT&T 6% -2 7% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MCI 4% -1 5% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Qwest 7% 1 6% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sprint 4% 0 5% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Frontier/Citizens 2% 0 2% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Comcast 2% 0 2% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other 18% 0 16% -3
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Reflects a revised methodology for calculating bundled and
non-bundled revenue
Local Phone Services Market Share
Company Share of Change Share of Change Share of Change
All from Non-Bundle from Customers from
Households Last Revenue (1) Last in Last
(Includes Quarter (Includes Quarter service Quarter
all only Territory
households households
including without
those with bundles)
bundles)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Verizon 25% 0 27% -2 84% 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SBC 24% 1 19% -2 81% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BellSouth 12% 0 16% -1 85% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Qwest 8% 0 10% 0 81% -2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sprint 5% 0 7% 1 95% -2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other 26% -1 21% 4 N/A
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Reflects a revised methodology for calculating bundled and
non-bundled revenue
LD Phone Service Market Share (Includes IntraLATA and
InterLATA calling)
Company Share of All Change from Share of Non- Change from
Households Last Quarter Bundle Revenue(1) Last Quarter
(Includes all (Includes only
households households
including without
those with bundles)
bundles)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AT&T 17% -3 34% -4
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SBC 18% 1 1% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Verizon 17% 2 2% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MCI 7% -1 15% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sprint 6% 0 7% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BellSouth 6% 0 0% (2) 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
VarTec 3% 0 2% -2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Qwest 5% 0 2% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other 32% 1 37% 4
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Reflects a revised methodology for calculating bundled and
non-bundled revenue
(2) Indicates rounded share less than one-half percent
Wireless Services Market Share
Company Share of Change from Share of Change from
Households Last Quarter Revenue Last Quarter
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Verizon Wireless 28% 1 28% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cingular 19% 0 18% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AT&T Wireless 13% -1 12% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sprint PCS 10% 0 11% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T-Mobile 8% 1 8% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ALLTEL Wireless 6% 0 5% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nextel 4% -1 6% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cellular One 2% 0 2% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other 13% 2 10% 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet Connection Household Share
Company Share of Change from Company Share of Change
Dial-up Last Broadband from Last
Households Quarter Households Quarter
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AOL 29% 0 Comcast 19% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MSN 6% -1 SBC 12% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Earthlink 5% -1 Cox 8% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NetZero 5% 1 Verizon 8% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AT&T 4% 0 Time Warner 8% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Juno 4% 0 Charter 6% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other 47% 1 Other 39% -2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cable/Satellite Service Market Share
Company Share of Change from Share of Change from
Households Last Quarter Revenue Last Quarter
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Comcast 24% 0 23% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DirecTV 15% 0 16% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Time Warner 11% -1 12% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dish Network 12% 0 12% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Charter
Communications 7% 0 7% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cox Communications 7% 0 7% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Adelphia 6% 0 5% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other 19% 0 18% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Share of Customer Spending
(Share of total telecom spending spent on each product category)
Service Share of Change from Last
Revenue Quarter
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wired 27% -2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wireless 32% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Video 28% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet 13% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Average Consumer Spending (across all households)
Service Average Percent Change
Monthly from Last
Spending (1) Quarter
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wired $43.76 -4%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wireless $50.59 -1%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cable/Satellite TV $44.38 -1%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet $21.38 1%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Total $160.12 -1%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Wired line spending was adjusted to reflect local phone
penetration
Average Consumer Spending (only for households which actually use
the service)
Service Average Percent Change
Monthly from Last
Spending Quarter
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Local $36.30 -2%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Long Distance $13.32 -2%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wireless $71.62 -1%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Video $55.03 0%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet $31.84 2%
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Share of Communications Wallet
Share of Communications Wallet represents the percentage of the
total consumer dollars spent with each provider on Communications
services.
Share of Change from
Company Communications Previous Quarter
Wallet
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Comcast 8% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Verizon Wireless 8% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Verizon 8% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SBC 7% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cingular Wireless 5% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DirecTV 5% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sprint (1) 5% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AT&T Wireless 4% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BellSouth 4% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Time Warner 4% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AT&T 3% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cox 3% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dish Network 3% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AOL 2% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ALLTEL Wireless 2% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Charter 2% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T-Mobile 2% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Qwest 2% 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MCI 1% -1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other 22% 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Includes both Sprint and Sprint PCS
About the Research
TNS Telecoms collects responses through its Bill Harvesting® database from 32,000 U.S. households that provide their complete set of telecommunications bills, promotional bill inserts and telecom direct mail communications each year. In the business market, TNS Telecoms' BusinessWave® research gathers telecom behavior information from small, medium and large businesses across the U.S. Together this syndicated information provides a number of product offerings including databases, TNS reports and online applications allowing national, state, city and micro level analysis across the U.S.
About TNS Telecoms
TNS Telecoms, the specialist telecoms division of TNS, is a global provider of strategic and tactical market information and analysis for telecom service providers and the entire telecommunications industry. Its range of syndicated research solutions and custom capabilities allows TNS Telecoms to meet the changing market information challenges of telecom-related businesses. For more information please go to http://www.tnstelecoms.com.
About TNS
TNS is a market information group. We are the world's largest custom research company and a leading provider of social and political polling. We are also a major supplier of consumer panel, TV audience measurement and media intelligence services.
TNS operates a global network spanning 70 countries and employs over 13,000 people. We provide market information and measurement, together with insights and analysis, to local and multinational organisations.
We combine our specialist sector knowledge with expertise in the areas of new product development, motivational research, brand and advertising research and stakeholder management to bring our clients up-to-the minute, internationally consistent information.
We think differently to help our clients build competitive advantage, making TNS the sixth sense of business.
Editor's Note: Please source all data and tables as "Source: TNS Telecoms." First Quarter 2005 Tracking Metrics will be available in June 2005. Bill Harvesting and BusinessWave are registered trademarks of TNS Telecoms.
Golin/Harris International]]>
Grace Pai, 212-373-6042
E-mail: gpai@golinharris.com