Viodi View – August 23rd, 2006 Issue – Will the Bundle Be Enough – Go to Viodi.com and Viodi.tv for current posts

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Viodi View Newsletter – August 23rd, 2006

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Will the Bundle Be Enough?

By Ken Pyle, [email protected], Managing Editor, Viodi View

“Is the Bundle Enough”, is a question I have been pondering for almost a year. So, I was thrilled to be able to pose this question to some of the world’s leading marketers of telecommunications and entertainment services that were part of a panel I moderated at C-COR’s Global IP Summit in Athens, Greece in late June. What motivated this question was another question, “what happens when all operators are able to provide a similar bundle?” And the corollary, “If the bundle is so great, why aren’t all customers purchasing bundled services?” For the purposes of the panel, the bundle was defined as two or more traditionally distinct services packaged together for a single price.

Telephony, Internet, video (television) and wireless have been the typical services that can comprise a “bundle”. From an industry perspective, the bundle is desired, as it so far has driven increases in Average Revenue Per Unit (ARPU), while reducing churn. An Infonetics survey of large operators this spring suggested that the main motivation for the bundle is to increase ARPU and generate new revenue streams, while none suggested that the bundle was being implemented due to customer demand. The bundle works, as according to the iDate Group, SBC (AT&T) increased its ARPU by 4.6% when it increased the number of double play subscribers from 54 to 66%.

Thomas Leone, Region VP and General Manager of Cox Communications, winner of the J.D. Power & Associates’ Quality Award for the Western United States for the last three years, reported that the triple play counts for 43% of their customers, while 72% take at least two services. He suggested that service, simplicity and savings are the key to success. This means that they have to do things like provide customers with flexible billing options (e.g. twice per month). It also means hiring the right people who will put their customers on a pedestal. As Leone said, “Hire for heart and train for skill.”

Mitch Clark, Executive Vice President of Marketing Operations for UPC Broadband, suggested that successful bundles target lifestyles and give customers choice. At the same time, operators must communicate the benefits and value of the offering in simple terms; in the language of their customers. Clark suggested that simplicity goes beyond communication and includes the ability for customers to self-provision services and having monitoring systems that indicate to customer service representatives the types of services a customer has and what they might want.

Benny Salaets of iDTV Telenet, a Belgian cable television operator, suggested the bundle must provide real value to both the customer and the operator. He warned that the bundle has the potential to cannibalize revenue from customers that are already paying for multiple distinct services. Telenet has developed an approach whereby they start with a base service and up sell from that point. He used the fast food restaurant chain McDonalds as a metaphor for this approach (e.g. would you like fries with your order). He indicated that trust in the brand is critical to this sort of approach.

The bundle is dynamic; what was triple play yesterday has now become quadruple play and, with some independent telcos, quintuple play. An example of the ever expanding potential for new services to be added to the bundle was provided by Phil Erli, Executive Vice President of Ringgold Telephone Company. Erli discussed the addition of home security monitoring as a value-add service that is finding traction in their rural area. Erli indicated that the bundle will have to be tweaked to meet the desires of the customers. He gave an example of how they had bundled long distance in their basic package and found that the customers did not value this offering

Ultimately, the bundle will not be enough for an independent telco to remain competitive. The key to future competitiveness will be able to continually add value to the bundle with the addition of new features that are well communicated to the customer base and that are competitively priced. These things, coupled with an independent telco’s exemplary local service, will allow an independent telco to maintain a competitive edge in today’s bundled world.

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