Quad Play

Dua minggu lalu, ada terminologi yang menggelitik waktu membahas trend transaksi global. Terminologi Quad Play .... apa itu ?. Kalau Triple Play mungkin bukan hal yang asing, salah satu operator di Indonesia pun sudah menerapkan layanan itu. Triple Play pada dasarnya layanan bundle yang ditawarkan operator untuk gabungan jasa Telephoni (voice), Internet, dan TV Cable. Lalu kalau ada Quad Play, kira-kira jasa ke empatnya apa dong ? Terus terang saya juga sempet terbengong-bengong dan mengira-ngira apa kira-kira jasa ke empat itu. Sampai akhirnya saya ketemu term itu di Internet (meski Wikipedia punya istilah yang berbeda). Boleh setuju atau tidak, namun istilah Quad play di industri telekomunikasi memang menambah jasa wireless sebagai paket ke empat untuk di integrasikan. Kalau nggak setuju, coba aja usulin, jasa apa yang lebih cocok untuk paket quad play.

Cuplikan artikel berikut ini semoga bisa nambah wawasan dari terminologi Quad Play. Artikel di sadur dari media San Francisco Chronicle akhir Mei 2007 dengan judul ”Triple play not enough? Say hey to quad play”, dan sub judul ”Telecoms adding cell service to TV, Internet, landlines” yang ditulis oleh Ryan Kim.

Selamat menikmati, kalau mau cerita lengkap bisa langsung ngakses ke artikel asli.

In the fast-moving telecom industry, it's apparently not enough for a company to offer television, broadband Internet and home phone service, the so-called triple play. Today, operators are going for the quad play, with the addition of cell phone service in their quest to win and retain customers.

For consumers, the quad play means they can buy all four services from one provider and pay for it on one bill, increasingly at a reduced price. But the companies say it's not only about the convenience and savings from one-stop shopping.

They see the new mega-bundles as a collection of services that will increasingly work together, giving you a new level of access and interaction with your entertainment and communications services. The cell phone will play a pivotal role as a portal to receive television or personal content from home, access home voice mail and e-mail, and program digital video recorders.

The move to the quad play is the latest escalation of a battle that's been building between phone and cable companies, who, because of deregulation, are allowed to compete on each other's traditional turf. The two industries have cranked up the competition recently, with cable entering the phone market while telecom companies have started to provide television services.

Both sides see the quad play as a way to hold onto customers, who are even more prized and valuable if they can be made to pay for four services.

Analysts said customers will initially be drawn by the simplicity and value of ordering a set of services from one provider. But quad-play providers said the real draw will be providing an integrated, seamless experience for users wherever they go with their cell phones.

Subscribers can use their cell phones to check voice mail from their landline phone at home. They can also view a television program guide on their cell phone. Live television will be accessible on cell phones, which is incorporating local newscasts and content like music video channel and a video game station. The cell-phone television service, however, doesn't carry the same shows as the cable lineup at home.

Ultimately, both cable and telecom companies plan to offer a greater degree of remote control for users, allowing them to watch their own recorded content or their live home TV content on their handsets.

The IDC analyst said the quest for the quadruple play is a savvy move by companies, who see it as a way to cover all their bases and retain customers while wringing the most revenue from them. A IDC study in 2006 found that 41 percent of customers subscribed to a bundle of some sort. Sixty-six percent of the respondents said that once they bought a bundle they had no plans to switch providers, which suggests that the more customers buy, the less likely they are to go through the hassle and cost of switching.

But getting all users to sign up for all four services could be a challenge. Some analysts say the triple play will probably be the favored bundle, with wireless replacing wireline as the preferred voice service.

IDC predicts only 7.8 million households will use a quad play in 2010, or 7 percent of the 116 million households in the United States. Triple plays, by comparison, are expected to account for 39 percent of households by 2010.

A Forrester Research analyst found that consumers drawn to bundles primarily for the savings they offer, rather than for simplicity or advanced integration of services. Operators will find the going tough if they emphasize integration instead of delivering noticeable discounts for bundled service.

Critics said quad plays might lead to confusion for some customers, who have to wade through a number of services that they may or may not need. Operators might have less incentive to sell low-priced individual services or even advertise them to customers looking to buy a la carte. Consumers just need to be introduced to the benefits of a quad play to start understanding its overall appeal.