How far is "Voice free"?

for all American iphone users.

Free calls are not new, but it is not easy to become a trend.

Recently, Apple announced that the upcoming iPhone6 will support WiFi calls, and has won the support of U.S. communications operator At&t. As early as 2008, At&t announced the provision of free WiFi access to all American iphone users and WiFi calls.

But for operators, At&t's partnership with Apple is leveraging their traditional business model.

As early as more than 10 years ago, Skype, QQ and other network communications services began to challenge the telecommunications operators voice, SMS services, in the face of Internet business impact, the global telecommunications operators started the transformation. From the performance of the three major operators in the past two years, the Internet "free call" service, has not fundamentally shaken its voice business cake, but under pressure, operators are also accelerating from "voice" to "traffic" business transformation.

The entry of virtual operators, the "Voice free" war burned into the traditional communications industry.

The advent of the free speech era?

For people who go abroad frequently, calling overseas calls will pay a hefty fee.

However, by using Skype's Internet telephony service, a minimum of 1 cents per minute is required to make a multinational phone call. Skype, which began to pop on PCs more than 10 years ago and is gradually expanding to the mobile end, has more than 660 million users globally, according to public data--only 770 million of China's largest operators.

Since the advent of the Internet, communication and social software based on the "free" spirit of the Internet has become an indispensable practical tool in the present life.

Two years ago, love chat technology launched a support for free calls app--"micro words", through the Internet, registered users can be registered users of the contact book contacts to call toll-free. "Micro-talk" also supports calls to unregistered contacts in the mobile phone address book, charged by the telecommunications operator. Last year, the app was listed in the Apple Store as a referral service.

Free call is not new, QQ video has already realized real-time video calls, micro-letter also support voice mail. Unlike the above products, new mobile communications products support phone calls like Skype's internet telephony, including "phone+" and "Everest", which is a communications service product from the launch of the message and is close to the "micro-talk" feature. However, to create a good user experience, a sufficient number of users to register the above products, the promotion process is not easy. "In part, the existing user has lost patience with the product until enough users are formed," he said. An Internet insider, who declined to be named, told the first financial daily.

For operators, these products may be worrying. However, the latest data show that social communication software QQ monthly active account number has reached 829 million, micro-letter and WeChat (micro-letter Edition) users of the combined months of active users have reached 438 million, the above two data are more than the number of mobile users, China Unicom. For Tencent, it is not technically difficult to provide free real-time voice services based on the Internet, and even to support the call, provided the government approves it.

It is undeniable that, due to signal transmission and compatibility issues, from the PC era of Internet telephony, in terms of call quality, emergency telephone, identity recognition to replace the traditional communications business has difficulties. However, the signal problem has been solved after the transmission efficiency of optical fiber and 4G technology is improved. and compatibility issues, because of the multiple-agency coordination, once the policy is allowed will not bring more obstacles. Many journalists interviewed by the communications industry that the impact of Internet communications technology, the communications industry into the "voice free" era will be inevitable.

"The biggest change that virtual operators bring is the beginning of a" voice free "era for telecoms. "The Virtual operator Industry Alliance Secretary General Shong said. With the opening of the telecom industry to private enterprises, some virtual operators have also launched a "gift fee" service.

Rapid transformation of Telecom industry

From the performance of the three major operators in the past two years, on the internet, "Free call" service, did not fundamentally shake its voice business cake, but under pressure, operators are also accelerating from the "voice" to "traffic" business transformation, the core is from the "Voice business" transition to "traffic business", "digital services."

China Mobile in the first half of this year, its traditional voice business income of 165.78 billion yuan, still accounted for the overall revenue of more than 50%. However, because of the substitution effect of internet services on traditional voice, China Mobile voice business income also fell, the first half of last year, its voice business income of 175.08 billion yuan.

"The trend of voice decline is unavoidable. A local mobile marketing director once told reporters. However, in some industry insiders see, the past few years, China Mobile to achieve rapid profit growth, relying on the mobile voice instead of the big era of fixed voice, voice call charges will not be easily abandoned. Although the OTT service has the substitution effect, but also has promoted the operator the flow income, for the operator, the transformation key is how lets the flow income increase partly above the voice service reduction part.

According to the news that the reporter confirmed previously, mobile will set up a "new media company" at the group level, integrating music, reading, games, anime, video five Internet content business base, "in the future, new media companies are not only looking at the growth rate of short-term business, but also to see how to adapt to the rules of the Internet company's game." A mobile insider told reporters.

China Telecom is also speeding up its transformation. According to China Telecom's first half of the business data disclosed, although fixed-line voice business income of 17.561 billion yuan, compared to the first half of last year, reduced 2.327 billion yuan, but emerging business revenue reached 41.3 billion yuan, an increase of 30%.

Data show that China Telecom "wing payment" business 2013 turnover reached 133.1 billion yuan, an increase of 226%; with NetEase company launched "Easy Letter" business, currently registered users close to 60 million households, the full year of industry applications to pull mobile users a net increase of more than 13 million households, the year-on-year growth of 30%. At present, China Telecom Internet business revenue accounted for the total income ratio of 30%.

In fact, foreign operators also have a successful transition precedent.

BT, the first transatlantic radio two-way call, had a share of about 86% per cent of its traditional fixed-line business, and the current rate had been sharply reduced. According to the BT Technical services and Operations Innovation (EI) General manager Marc Frangos, the current BT business scope includes not only the core network, network virtualization and other communications content, but also extended to the cloud services, large data and even social media and other ICT integration areas, including the production of television content and distribution.