After noting that HD television and HD radio are realities, a new study from ABI Research (News - Alert) remarks that "it is ironic that the telephone, patented in 1876, is the last of the three to get the quantum leap in quality that High Definition provides."

The study from ABI Research finds that about 487 million mobile subscribers will use HD-enabled handsets over upgraded networks in 2015.

Not bad for a market virtually nonexistent today, is it? The ABI report finds that "growth is expected to ramp up quickly in 2013, and then skyrocket starting in 2014." So why then? 

"The upgrade to HD voice is not especially expensive," says ABI's principal analyst Fritz Jordan. "Newer 3G networks -- those deployed since about 2005-2006 -- can already use the new format and require only a software update and a changeover to HD handsets."

That's why, Jordan says, HD voice, unlike most technologies, will first find traction in the developing markets of Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa: "In North America and Western Europe, 3G infrastructure installed earlier in the decade must be changed to a new format."

Is there anybody currently in the market? Oh mais oui - one HD voice pioneer is Orange. Having done some deployments in Eastern Europe already, Orange is expanding coverage into France and other Western European countries. "Vodafone (News - Alert) will be watching carefully, will notice that Orange is picking up subscribers, and will likely follow suit," Jordan says. 

Currently, according to TMC's (News - Alert) Doug Mohney, "the biggest business HD voice service provider by a large margin is 8x8. In January, the company cited numbers of around 70,000 end-points via their hosted solution and Aastra (News - Alert) Hi-Q enabled phones. You can expect that number to steadily grow throughout 2010, given that 8x8's service is now on GSA schedule and being steadily bought by Federal agencies who just don't want to run their own PBX (News - Alert).

Ooma gets second place in the HD voice service provider arena, according to Mohney, with around 25,000 handsets shipped in the last quarter of 2009.