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Going for the Gold Ring by Ken Pyle (ken.pyle@viodi.com), Viodi, LLC |
September 29, 2004 Issue |
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| Ringgold has been a pioneer in deploying IPTV among its independent telco peers. One of the things motivations for Ringgold’s push into video is the zero access line growth they have experienced since the beginning of 2000. This low growth is despite the fact that Ringgold is located in the fifth fastest growing county in Georgia. Phil Erli, Ringgold Telephone's General Manager, surmises that the majority of the lines that they are not getting is due to “20-somethings” substituting wireless for wireline service. Erli suggested that they have to appear sexy to that group, as these young people will be starting families and they may never sign-up for services from Ringgold. As such, Ringgold is identifying itself as a technology company, instead of a telephone company. As evidence of their effort to make this shift, they have implemented a 24x7 service and created a software development group to help themselves and other local businesses stay at the edge of technology. Along these lines, they have adopted a mantra of “legendary service.” Prior to coming to Ringgold, Erli had been in the consulting business and had decided that video would be critical for the long-term future for IOCs. He had a six point plan for Ringgold to move from POTS to video. Their process of implementing video included touring various deployments, issuing an RFP to vendors and, most importantly, talking to customers to understand what Ringgold would need to differentiate their services. The held many focus groups to determine what channel line-ups should look like. A feature that that he emphasized as important is Caller ID on the television. He suggested that people, “eat it up like candy.” NextTV. They thought that VOD would be another important differentiator, but they have difficulty obtaining first run movies. Echoing previous Viodi View articles, Ringgold is being told that, unless they encrypt, they won’t get mainstream content. They have been dabbling with the creation of local VOD content and he mentioned of one project that he is personally working on with the County historian. Their experience suggests that a telco should be prepared to rewire every home with CAT-5. Ringgold has tried to use existing in-home coax, as well as HPNA, but they found there are just too many problems and it was not worth the effort. As the new game in town, they cannot afford glitches. He estimated that 75% of their problems have been from “operator [customer] error” or bad in-home wiring. The rest of the errors are caused in the outside plant. He cautioned about field splices that work fine for telephony, but have real problems in a video environment. Erli emphasized the importance of service with regards to video. He said that it is important to have regular customer contact. They call customers one day, three days and two weeks after an installation to ensure the customer is educated about and satisfied with the service. Going forward, Erli stated that, “they have to continue to reinvent themselves.” They have lots of ideas for services that they have not yet brought to market. Personal Video Recording is a service that they see as a must-have. They believe that Instant Messaging via the television will also be very important. He says video has helped them increase their penetration of long distance to 44%. Similarly, video has helped drive CLASS services. His background is finance and he finds it difficult to do the business case just for video, because all of the features become so intertwined. The bottom line to his presentation is that service bundling, which includes a video element, is necessary to maintain a bottom line for an independent telephone company. All displayed trademarks, logos and service marks are the property of their respective owners. © 2004, Viodi, LLC. All Rights Reserved |
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IP Video Conference Agenda Economic and Product Feature Considerations for Telecom Network Architectures The Consumer Electronics Interface – Can You See Me Now? Regulation 101 – What a Telco Has to Consider When Deploying Video & Other New Services Get in the Game – How do Games Play in a Service Providers’ Plans? Advertising and other Alternative Revenue Sources Integrating VoIP Content Into a Telco’s Bundled Service Offering Making Sticky Bundles – Baking up new ways to gain and retain customers |
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