Dialing For DA Dollars

Every now and then, most people have to ask for help. But if they call directory assistance (DA), it will cost much more than their time.

For example, a wireline call to AT&T “00” Info costs $1.49. Wireless DA calls are even more expensive.

Even so, The Kelsey Group www.kelseygroup.com predicts that wireless DA calls in the United States will increase by 127% by 2006, while wireline DA calls will decrease by 13% over the next 6 years.

Analysts anticipate worldwide directory assistance/enquiry (DA/DQ) revenues will increase from $19.7 billion in 2001 to $54.8 billion by 2006. “By 2004 in North America (including Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean), there will be more wireless calls than wireline,” said Kathleen Pierz, The Kelsey Group program director, Global Directories & Databases practice. “But the revenue shifts by 2005 because a wireless DA call is more expensive.”

In a report to be released this week at The Kelsey Group’s Voice & Wireless Commerce (VOX2001) Conference titled, “Directory Assistance/Enquiry: A Global Outlook,” analysts examine significant changes underway in the global DA/DQ space and the differences between wireline and wireless services. According to Pierz, wireless DA will enjoy enormous growth while wireline DA will decline. Why? Wireless use, minutes, calls and subscribers are all increasing. Even though wireless DA is largely outsourced, this service will be a boon for carriers.

“If you’re using a wireless phone and want information, you automatically go to the wireless carrier’s DA source, internal or outsourced,” she said. “If I’m not mobile, DA in the United States has gone from free up to $1 or more per call.”

Of course, money-conscious consumers may use alternatives, such as free online DA or Ask Jeeves-type services. But when they need DA on the go and don’t have an Internet connection handy, most people will grab their cellular phone.

“It will be expensive, but when you need it, you need it,” Pierz said, “and mobile users have consistently proved themselves to be non-sensitive to price changes. A DA call on a wireless phone costs much more than on a wireline phone, and that’s where all the volume is migrating.”

Many Internet portals such as Terra Lycos (www.terralycos.com) offer a subscription DA service that can increase minutes and revenue for wireless carriers. For $1 a minute, users can call into a 5-digit number, ask any question and get a response from expert Internet researchers in any format they wish, including e-mail, voice mail and SMS.

TerraLycos’ Web site provides an example of a user who called the service while literally outside of a courtroom waiting to go into traffic court. He asked the DA service how he could get out of the charges, and the researchers offered a few strategies. According to TerraLycos, they worked.

While most DA services probably won’t be used to help users avoid moving violations, Pierz said most DA traffic will migrate toward two models: high-end, more-costly concierge services and the less-expensive, voice-automated platform services, where users pay 25 cents for routine information such as a phone number.

“Increasing numbers of wireless phones are driving new DA/DQ models incorporating high-end services such as driving directions, entertainment schedules and restaurant guides,” she said. “At the same time, advances in voice-automation technologies are enabling fully automated DA/DQ offerings.”

Such services, and revenue they produce, will help spur DA for wireless phone numbers. Two major roadblocks still exist in the United States, Pierz said, including the lack of a CPP model and privacy issues. Subscribers are reluctant to get calls they don’t really want on their wireless phone.

“My estimate is that widespread, national ability to get cellular phone numbers from a DA would be 2004,” she said. “Minutes are money for carriers, so they are motivated to find a suitable way to provide DA for cellular phone numbers.”