Verizon Business is the leading provider of business VoIP services in North America. That is if you buy into Infonetics’ North America Business VoIP Services Leadership Matrix. “In the aggressive North American business VoIP services market, Verizon Business stands out as the market leader in both IP Centrex and IP connectivity services,” says Diane Myers, Directing Analyst, Service Provider VoIP and IMS, Infonetics Research. That’s not great news for telecompetitors facing Verizon. I say that because business IP services are an area where competitors should be beating ‘stodgy’ traditional telcos like Verizon.
Companies like XO, Level 3 and others should be ‘kicking butt’ relative to IP business services. It’s one of the few lines of business where they historically have been able to aggressively compete with incumbents and see some success. If this Infonetics research is an accurate reflection of the marketplace and incumbent conglomerates like Verizon start to consistently take the lead in IP business services, what’s left for much smaller competitors? Are there are enough crumbs to go around? Perhaps – the Infonetics matrix also identifies New Global Telecom as having the largest number of IP Centrex subscribers in North America and therefore ranking second overall behind Verizon in the matrix.
The matrix also can be seen as a point of light to all incumbents, especially smaller ILECs. There is a growing and profitable opportunity for business IP services. Data like this reveals it’s an incumbent’s business to lose.
