The recent decision by Verizon to give an exclusive 18-month contract to Nortel to supply VoIP equipment. Both New York Times and Wall Street Journal write about the importance of the deal.
NYTimes: “Verizon, the nation’s biggest phone company, had given a huge lift to a technology that some industry executives say could be the most important development in public telecommunications networks since analog switches made way for digital equipment two decades ago…So far, most of the equipment sold for Internet-based phone communications has been to big corporate users. And the extent to which Verizon or other big carriers will actually back up their visions with money depends on how quickly customers embrace Internet-based telephone services.”
Adds WSJ:
The 10-year-old VOIP technology implemented successfully on a widespread basis only in recent years is expected to take corporate America by storm this year, and consumers sometime thereafter.
“We believe that VOIP could be the most significant technology trend in 2004,” says analyst Casey Ryan at Wells Fargo Securities in San Francisco. He predicts that overall VOIP sales will soar by 100% this year.
