Survey: Consumers will pay for convergence

Some new research by an independent telco in South Carolina shows broadband customers do want new convergence features and are willing to pay for them. The survey went out to about 4000 customers who buy Caller ID service from Hargray Communications, which serves the Hilton Head area.

It found that 65% “love” their Caller ID service and another 26% like it, and 81% have told their friends or family about the service. More than half have actually shown it off to someone else, the survey showed. When it came to new services, 60% are interested in e-mail and voicemail alerts to both TVs and PCs, 55% would like to see customer care messages from their service provider on their TV and PCs, and about half were interested in wireless convergence services such as Web content alerts on their cell phones and in greater personalization of services such as picture caller ID for TVs and PCs, built on a personalized network address book.

Those households with income between $25,000 and $100,000 were willing to spend $3 a month for TV caller ID and $2 a month for PC caller ID. Eighty percent of households were willing to pay $1 or more for each additional converged service.

“It’s a very strong validation of what we are seeing in a usage and service provider interest,” said Meredith Flynn-Ripley, COO of Integra 5, which provides the Converged Service Delivery Platform for the service. “This shows consumers are very ready for converged services and absolutely love them. One of the most interesting things about the service is that it shows the power of viral marketing--81% have told friends and neighbors about the service and 58% show it off to friends and neighbors. When is the last time you went out of your way to talk to a friend and neighbor about a new service?”

The survey indicates that TV caller ID, which Hargray customers have been using for more than a year “is just the tip of the iceberg,” Flynn-Ripley said.

Integra 5 markets its C-SDP as a platform for new revenue-generating services for service providers – cable and telco – as a means of launching new services and generating new revenues today, prior to moving into an IP Multi-media Subsystems architecture. The company partners with Cisco Systems and others, and has been rumored as a possible acquisition target of the networking giant.