AT&T’s (T) “U-verse Voice” Voice-over-IP (VoIP) service, which is being delivered over the carrier’s fiber-rich IP network, has reportedly reached 1 million customers in aggregate. Ma Bell added 730,000 new customers in 2009 for this popular digital home phone service that is available in 120 markets across 22 states in the US.
U-verse Voice, which was launched in January 2008, is currently available in every market where AT&T’s “U-verse TV” video service is being offered. Currently 70% of U-verse TV subscribers are bundled with U-verse Voice, representing a major driving force for the healthy growth of this residential VoIP service. AT&T beat its archrival Verizon (VZ) in terms of net video subscriber additions in fourth-quarter 2009. The carrier amassed 248,000 new U-verse TV subscribers versus Verizon’s 153,000 FiOS TV customers.
The reliable and feature-rich U-verse Voice service offers premium calling features including a single, combined voice mailbox to access VoIP service and wireless messages. Moreover, subscribers can view U-verse Voice caller ID and voice mail notifications on U-verse TV (using the “Caller ID on TV” service).
AT&T continues to experience healthy market penetration of its U-verse services that combine U-verse TV, U-verse high-speed Internet and U-verse Voice. U-verse services are helping the carrier to counter increasing competition in the legacy wireline business. U-verse Voice has been a significant contributor to AT&T’s consumer IP service revenue growth in the most recent quarter.
AT&T is aggressively marketing bundled services, which are helping it to protect markets effectively from alternative service providers such as cable operators. The company is experiencing accelerated erosion in its wireline voice access lines as cable companies in overlapping markets are offering alternative services at attractive price points. U-verse subscribers have the option of choosing from multiple economical service bundles (triple or quadruple-play) that combine wireless with U-verse Internet, TV and Voice services.
While U-verse Voice is growing at a respectable pace, AT&T still has a long way to go to catch up with the subscriber level of competing VoIP services offered by Comcast Corp. (CMCSA). The cable giant ended 2009 with a residential VoIP customer base of 7.4 million, way ahead of AT&T. Nevertheless, AT&T’s continued initiatives to expand the scale of content delivery and service availability remain encouraging.
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