Wireless directory assistance, one of the more complicated issues in wireless, is gaining steam following recent analyst predictions the market holds an ample $3.3 billion revenue potential.
But swirling around the seemingly simplistic idea of a wireless directory database are complicated concerns regarding privacy and security, anticipation of the implementation of local number portability and enthusiasm around the growing National Do Not Call Registry “People look at this like it’s a slam dunk, and it’s not,” said Judy Frederiksen, product manager of directory assistance at Sprint PCS.
Indeed, the wireless directory assistance/enquiry (DA/DQ) market could produce more than $3 billion in additional annual revenue by 2007, almost 50 percent more than the market’s current value, according to recent research from the Zelos Group Inc.
Although the timetable and the model for a nationwide wireless DA/DQ service is uncertain, one thing is clear: This won’t be a traditional Yellow-Pages directory. In fact, no one is talking about publishing these numbers at all, according to Frederiksen. Rather, the directory likely will be a phone-based service under which the caller can be connected to the requested party, perhaps without ever hearing that party’s phone number.
Sprint recently carried out a wireless DA/DQ trial with its Kansas City-area employees using data aggregator InfoNXX’s MobileSource product. During the trial, employees could request to be connected to another employee. The answering party would first hear the caller’s name, in the caller’s voice, then be given the options of accepting, rejecting or sending the call to voice mail. That model keeps control in the answering party’s hands-essential to wireless telephony because a connected call would result in costs to both parties.
The trial taught the DA/DQ group at Sprint many lessons, namely that determining what kind of DA/DQ system to implement and educating customers on that system would not be easy tasks, Frederiksen said. Given the challenges of preparing data, educating customers and changing accounting and billing systems to accommodate a wireless 411 system, Frederiksen said she believes wireless DA/DQ services initially might be rolled out in 18 to 24 months. But, “if we can’t do this right then we won’t do it at all,” she emphasized, adding that if done wrong, the predicted increased revenues for directory assistance could turn out to be negatives. “You have to get it right the first time or you’ll never recover from it,” echoed Kathleen Pierz, author of the Zelos Groups’ DA/DQ study.
Indeed, the biggest challenge carriers likely will face is educating consumers on the potential benefits of a wireless DA/DQ system. The Zelos Group found that only 2 percent of U.S. consumers would list their wireless numbers without guaranteed privacy protection and/or call screening. However, with privacy protection and/or call-screening abilities, 51 percent of the total sample, and 69 percent of the 13- to-24 year-old segment, would list their wireless numbers.
Consumer control over who can reach users and how will be key in an effective system, according to Pierz. Her study found consumers want to be able to control who can call them, through call screening, the ability to blacklist and whitelist certain callers and the option to be unlisted. Consumers also want to control when they can be called and how they can be called, perhaps through an option that can route callers to voice mail or even to e-mail or short message service.
The National Do Not Call Registry illustrates the U.S. consumer attitude toward telemarketing, which, according to Pierz, is the No. 1 reason most wireless users initially reject the notion of a wireless DA system. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission announced more than 30 million phone numbers have been registered on the list since it opened June 27. Consumers can also register their wireless numbers on the list, and despite the fact many are unaware of that, the list is a boon for wireless DA/DQ initiatives, according to Frederiksen.
WLNP presents another challenge to be considered by carriers as they implement plans for DA/DQ. The implementation of WLNP begs the question of who owns the phone number, and therefore who has the right to publish it. Frederiksen remarked at a recent Zelos Group conference that the issue of who legally owns the number is moot given that consumers think they own the numbers, a belief that will be strengthened with WLNP. Carriers that argue that point will only risk alienating their customers at a time when churning will be easier than ever.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association has spearheaded an initiative to put carriers on one page to roll out a nationwide wireless 411 service. John Windolph, CTIA senior vice president of business development who is heading the wireless 411 initiative, optimistically said he expects the service to be offered to wireless end users “within the next 12 months,” on a carrier-by-carrier basis.
Windolph explained that the carriers involved in the initiative are establishing a limited liability company that will work with one vendor, yet to be chosen, which will aggregate subscriber records and maintain their privacy. A handful of vendor candidates have been picked as finalists from CTIA’s previously issued request for proposals. Frederiksen, who is involved with the CTIA initiative, said she is unaware of how, when, or which data aggregator or aggregators will be chosen.
The United States is in a unique position in that as of yet, no major initiative has been enacted to aggregate wireless numbers for a database. Although users who want a wireless number published in a traditional directory can put it there, as of now only 2 percent of Americans, likely those in service industries who rely solely on wireless phones, have done so.
Similarly, in Europe, service providers have created opt-in plans by which wireless users must sign up to be included in a database, but so far no European country has come close to achieving critical mass-the U.K. reports 98 percent of mobile numbers are unlisted and Germany reports 80 percent are unlisted, according to the Zelos Group. Meanwhile, Scandinavian countries have implemented an opt-out model in which all users are listed unless they unlist themselves. That model has resulted in 80 to 90 percent of wireless numbers being listed, and according to the Zelos Group, 15 to 21 percent of all DA/DQ calls in Scandinavia are for a wireless listing.
