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With the current economic downturn, companies are taking a harder look at their telecom structures and costs with an eye at what benefits the next generation of technology might bring. Information Gatekeepers Inc. (IGI) is starting a series of reports examining “telecom business transformation” with “Is Google Going to Capture Telephony?” This report will review the telecom market in the United States, including the recent announcement of Google Voice.

“In 2007, Google purchased a small startup called Grand Central. Grand Central provided a service that allowed calls to follow a user to different phones and visual voicemail. In early March 2009, Google announced that it had now rebranded the service to Google Voice and added a number of new features. Early reporting on the features included free calling within the United States, extremely cheap international calling, and many advanced call- and phone-management capabilities,” said Clifford Holliday, author of the report and a writer and analyst for IGI.

“Although not yet available to the general public (it is said that it will be in a few weeks), the threat is clear. Google is indicating that it will give away the entire voice business (at least within the United States) just to get an added advertising platform. How big a market can we expect for Google Voice? Is this a threat to mainstream telephony? What are than main issues impacting the telecom market today?” Holliday added.

According to IGI, this report will attempt to answer these questions. Primarily, IGI sees four major issues in today’s competitive structure in telecommunications affecting their answers. First, telcos will become wireless, rather than wireline companies. Second, the major regional Bell operating companies (RBOCs) and many smaller telcos will undertake Advanced Access Architecture deployments. Third, major telcos will see overbuilding. Finally, the “super competitors,” led by Google, will emerge.