By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor

More and more businesses are availing themselves of mobile workforces, thanks to communications technology. The voice phone portion of that is key, and it’s more widely available than ever, thanks to Voice over IP.

The rise of VoIP as a mobile workforce enabler has had notable results. According to a new forecast from research firm IDC (News - Alert), “Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2009-2013 Forecast,” the world's mobile worker population will pass the one billion mark this year and grow to nearly 1.2 billion people – more than a third of the world's workforce – by 2013.

The IDC forecast finds the most significant gains will be in the emerging economies of Asia/Pacific, “where a strong economic recovery and new interest in unified communications will drive healthy growth in all aspects of mobility spending.”

The United States has the highest percentage of mobile workers in its workforce, with 72.2 percent of the workforce mobile in 2008, the study’s authors say: “The U.S. will remain the most highly concentrated market for mobile workers with 75.5 percent of the workforce, or 119.7 million workers, being mobile in 2013.”

The array of products and services for this market is dizzying. At Phone (News - Alert).com, to pick one example, the Virtual Office Plans include everything you used to get at your old phone company plus more – a lot more, with no activation fees, low rates pretty much everywhere, unlimited extensions, vanity numbers, toll-free numbers, professional recording services – if you want it for your phone, it’s here.

Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) represents the largest total number of mobile workers throughout the forecast, with 546.4 million mobile workers in 2008 growing to 734.5 million or 37.4 percent of the total workforce in 2013.

Western Europe's mobile workforce will see a compound annual growth rate of six percent over the forecast period to reach 129.5 million mobile workers, about half of the entire workforce, in 2013.

Japan's mobile worker population will total 49.3 million in 2013, representing 74.5 percent of its total workforce. Like the United States, this is essentially the sustainable limit of Japan's mobile worker penetration.

The rest of the world (with the clever acronym ROW), comprised of Canada, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa and Latin America, will see its mobile worker population grow to 153.2 million by 2013. Currently the low penetration of mobile workers in the total workforce (13.5 percent) signals “significant growth potential in these markets,” study officials say.