Communications service providers are missing out on a marvelous opportunity to make recurring revenues from DID numbers, says Rehan Allahwala of DIDx and Super Technologies Inc. DID Exchange, a service of Super Technologies, is a VoIP-based wholesale DID phone number marketplace for telecommunications service providers of all stripes.
Using DIDs as a revenue form is a neglected part of the telecom industry, Allahwala says, which is too bad because it’s one of the stickiest ways to make money in the voice business. That’s because once someone gets a phone number they don’t want to let it go.
Carriers in the U.S. now sell number only in the U.S., but they might want to explore the opportunities of selling them globally, he suggests. Having a U.S. phone number is seen by many abroad as a fashion statement, he explains, so the vanity opportunity is one potential play. Many business people who work abroad, some of who may be affiliated with U.S. entities, might also like to have U.S. phone numbers to build credibility, he says.
The potential revenues that could come from this kind of thing might seem like small change to carriers, but Allahwala says that even if a carrier sells these numbers for just $5 a month, the earning potential is huge just within India alone.
“The finger in the ocean hasn’t even been dipped yet,” Allahwala says.
Allahwala was a panelist on yesterday’s ITEXPO Miami session called “Turning Simple Voice Communications into Profitable Interactions” and will be on a Thursday 2:30 p.m. panel called “Making WebRTC Work: From Theory to Practice”.
When Allahwala isn’t busy at work and speaking at trade shows, he is involved in helping the world’s poor by providing them with technology-enabled tools. For example, he has created a basic mobile phone-based system to bring basic education on such topics as hygiene to illiterate individuals, who as a result can learn by watching video on the phones. He’s also built RehanU.com, which is described as a free university where people like Bill Gates educate and inspire.
Edited by
Stefania Viscusi
