Multiplay Contrarian

Embarq's Basic Plus monthly phone service also aims to minimize voice erosion. In addition to features such as call waiting and caller ID, the service can be set up to simultaneously ring multiple phone numbers and lets users transfer calls from their cell phones to their home phones. As Huber noted, the latter capability can eliminate the all-too-common situation in which a wireless user sits in his or her garage, waiting to finish a conference call that began while he or she was on the road.

Embarq also uses its Embarq.com Web portal to enhance the value of some of its service offerings. For example, customers can go to the portal to read voicemail messages in text form. The company also generates revenues through its portal by enabling users to download videos there.

One industry observer applauded Embarq's efforts. “They're taking a very aggressive stance in basically saying, ‘We're not about to give up and let wireless and [voice over IP] take our core business,’” said Bernie Arnason, managing partner for Pivot Media, a consultancy focused on Independent telcos. “They're the leaders in the industry in terms of saying, ‘This landline is still a valuable asset, and we're going to continue to add value to it.’”

VIDEO AND WIRELESS ALTERNATIVES

Although its plans don't include IPTV, Embarq hasn't entirely given up on video. The company already has a partnership with DISH Network — and in a follow-up interview after Insights, Huber said Embarq plans to partner with multiple video providers to deliver more tightly integrated services.

“The biggest key for us is to do an arrangement with the video provider so that we're leveraging our broadband facilities,” Huber said. He also hinted that the resulting service offering might resemble AT&T's Homezone service, which that company offers in partnership with DISH to deliver video-on-demand and other advanced video services.

Embarq's integrated video offering also will build on some of the capabilities offered today at Embarq.com. For example, Huber said the company already has demonstrated the ability to display the text version of a voicemail message on a television screen at the time a caller leaves the message.

On the wireless side, it's been several months since Embarq stopped reselling Sprint's service. Today, “our strategy with wireless is over-the-top,” Huber told Insights attendees, using an industry catchphrase that describes companies such as Google, which offer services that run on top of another company's infrastructure. Huber pointed to the example of a Java client that end users can download onto their cell phones to enable calls to be transferred to landline phones. “It will work with any wireless carrier,” he said.

Without a wireless offering, Embarq has no motivation to push customers toward over-the-air content downloads. Instead, Huber sees an opportunity to enhance the Embarq portal to offer wireless users a more economical alternative. Noting that the most tech-savvy users already know how to download a video from Embarq.com, burn it onto a secure digital memory card and take it with them, he said, “Our goal is to make it so anyone can do it.”