IP Democracy: Brian Roberts Counters Murdoch on Free VoIP

Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia conference today is a lot of fun, if for no other reason than to hear the titans of the media world disagree on fundamental trends. News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch predicted earlier today that VoIP would be free within three years. But, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, whose company views VoIP as the next big revenue driver, takes a different view.

Speaking at the conference, Roberts said “I don’t really believe in the extremism view, so I have to respectfully disagree with Rupert” on VoIP becoming a free commodity. He then polled the audience to find out how many folks still rely on Verizon for local voice service, despite the multiplicity of voice options, particularly in Manhattan. Most people raised their hands.

He then polled the audience on how many had purchased over $200 worth of items on eBay in the last several months, and few raised their hands. Ipso facto: “Different services for different audiences,” Roberts said, trying to underscore the point that free VoIP services, such as Skype, soon to be owned by eBay, don’t compete with primary line local voice options.

“We’re going after the market of people who want to pay, but want to know that the product will always work.”

Secondly, Comcast doesn’t view voice as a stand-alone product as much as it does a component of the overall product mix. When Comcast first started to plan its new services, the company decided to “build a network that will allow us to deliver video content, unified messaging, email, voice mail that works with your email…a unified [network] that works with multiple platforms,” Roberts said.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on September 21, 2005 2:46 PM to IP Democracy