Party Line: AOL Readying VoIP Trial

Time Warner’s AOL unit is looking to launch a beta test of a VoIP service, but it’s keeping mum on the details. Word got out when AOL users asked to participate spilled the beans online. An AOL rep confirmed that the ISP is "expecting a trial," but said "we test so many things, that there’s not much more to say than that." It sounds like AOL’s pretty interested though. The company recently advertised a job opening for a full-time, director of VoIP Products and Services, according to online chat boards. The director would serve as the "primary advocate for the product within AOL and its partners and is ultimately responsible for product delivery." Considering sister company Time Warner Cable’s plans to roll out its Digital Phone service nationwide by year-end, it is somewhat of an odd dynamic-but not that unusual considering Roadrunner and AOL for Broadband. "We already exist with AOL in the broadband space, and already compete with other VoIP products in the voice space," a Time Warner Cable spokesman said. The world of VoIP continues to grow with even the RBOCs launching it. VoIP will have nearly 1mln subs by year-end, and 17.5mln US households by the end of ’08, according to new Yankee Group research. By comparison, there were just 131K VoIP homes at the end of last year. While Vonage is the dominant player now, MSOs will capture 56% of the market by the end of ’05, Yankee predicted, adding that MSOs’ share of the local phone market will reach nearly 10% by ’08.