Triple Play

Firstly: Triple Play represents the wave of the future. The primary benefit from integrating access, content and communications will be enhanced customer convenience. Currently the consumer has to select different providers for access, content and broadband communications services. This involves not only a relatively complicated selection process, but also a considerable expenditure of time — factors which represent an obvious barrier to the spread of the technology and its potential popularity.

But what are the key factors influencing the success of Triple Play from a provider’s point of view? Over what time period will Triple Play offerings become the norm? Within the scope of the “Deutschland Online 3” study, questions like these involving the broadband market were addressed in some detail. This chapter highlights the essential aspects: prospects, drivers and barriers to Triple Play.

Key Findings

• More than 80 % of broadband experts consider Triple Play offerings an important strategic option for providers in the hotly contested access market.
• Around 85% of respondents estimate the extent to which Triple Play strategies will have established themselves by the year 2015 as high to very high.
• The central benefits of Triple Play offerings for the customer lie in the appeal of the product package and better value for money resulting from a single package versus a number of separate products.
• The percentage of households making the switch to VoIP/video telephony is expected to rise from less than 1 % to around 35 % in the period from 2004 to 2015.
• The relatively low number of users so far plus the lack of market transparency from a customer perspective are the biggest barriers to the blanket penetration of Internet telephony.