OTT specialists such as Netflix pose the greatest competitive threat to traditional communications service providers, according to about half of the respondents to a new industry survey.

About half of the Light Reading community that responded to the ongoing 2014 BTE Preview poll during its initial 48 hours said OTT service providers such as WhatsApp and Netflix pose the biggest outside competitive threat to network operators -- an even bigger threat than the 800-ton fiber-wielding overbuilding gorilla known as Google.

Much less scary are actual on-the-ground (or over-the-airwave) competitors like other telcos, mobile service providers, or cable operators.

We're still in the early stage of data collection for the poll, so these numbers could change. You could register your two cents (or pence, or fraction of a bitcoin) by taking the survey here (two minutes is all you need):

2014 BTE Preview Survey

Everyone who takes the survey will get a report with full results following our Big Telecom Event in June. We'll also be sharing results with attendees at BTE.

So let us know -- are you really that scared of OTT? Does the thought of Reed Hastings cause you to break out in night sweats? Or is that monster under your bed something else?

— Dennis Mendyk, Managing Director, Heavy Reading

Check out the agenda for Light Reading's Big Telecom Event (BTE), which will take place on June 17 and 18 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers. The event combines the educational power of interactive conference sessions devised and hosted by Heavy Reading's experienced industry analysts with multi-vendor interoperability and proof-of-concept networking and application showcases. For more on the event, the topics, and the stellar service provider speaker lineup, see Telecommunication Luminaries to Discuss the Hottest Industry Trends at Light Reading's Big Telecom Event in June.