LOCAL internet joint ventures Yahoo!7 and ninemsn are gearing up to inflict more pain on the ailing $33 billion telco sector, with the launch of cut-price internet-based voice services (VOIP) later this year.
The two groups join eBay's ground-breaking Skype service as the latest threat to fixed-line revenues that last year earned Telstra $8 billion.
Yahoo launched the service in the US last month charging customers $US2.99 a week, or $US29.90 ($41.75) a year and as little as US2c a minute to make calls.
"We're not just a media company - we're a communications company," Yahoo!7 interim chief executive Rohan Lund told The Australian yesterday.
"Mail, messenger, 360 (social networking), mobile platforms to go, VOIP - they're actually all different communication tools.
"Personal computer to phone capability is a logical extension. We'll be doing something in the coming months." Ninemsn chief executive Martin Hoffmann said that MSN was now trialling VOIP in the US and the service would be launched in Australia later this year.
Macquarie Equities said in a recent report that the emerging internet VOIP players were changing the model for fixed-line voice services.
"The significance of Skype's charging model is that we expect Telstra and Telecom New Zealand's pricing strategy to increasingly head in a similar direction: that is, a flat price regardless of volume, with additional services -- including additional quality of service -- costing extra.
"It will be a tiered-pricing structure in many ways resembling a pay-TV slate. Telstra indicated at its strategy briefing in November that it would introduce subscription pricing in the next 6-12 months."
Yahoo!7, which was launched in January and attracted more than 500,000 unique users last month, is also pushing its content on to third-generation mobile phones by way of a global deal with Nokia which will see email and messenger software pre-loaded on to phones. Nokia spokesman Jon Manning said: "The intention is that this service will be made available in the Asia-Pacific region shortly as a software download off the internet or, in some circumstances, pre-loaded on devices depending on operators."
Telstra and Optus declined to comment on emerging VOIP threats to their business.
In a further online development, ninemsn yesterday unveiled its plans for a push into the booming local search market with its My Local services.
The group joins the recently launched News Corporation (publisher of The Australian) site truelocal.com.au in a bid for Telstra's Yellow Pages $1.5 billion a year sales.
Mr Hoffman and Mr Lund said they expected to see 60 per cent growth in online branded advertising this year.
"We're tracking ahead of plans and feel confident about the outlook - the (advertising) market is quite buoyant," Mr Lund said.
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,18701239%5E15318%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
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