The state of the VoIP market is shifting and — in a not at all surprising twist — the culprit is mobile devices. Indeed, new research from market research firm Infonetics Research says that the number of OTT mobile VoIP subscribers shot up by more than 550 percent last year worldwide to over 640 million. Not only that, this growth is expected to nearly double, approaching one billion before the end of 2013.
Unsurprisingly, Skype (News - Alert) is the leader in this space, used by 40 percent of active subscribers, but there are other players — namely Fring, KakaoTalk, Line, Nimbuzz, WeChat and Viber — that will carve out bigger share for themselves as the market grows. Unfortunately, even Skype, with its major market share, isn't making much money in this space, according to Diane Myers, Infonetics Research's (News - Alert) principal analyst for VoIP, UC and IMS.
"The fact remains that most OTT mVoIP providers are making very little money per user," she comments. "In 2012, the average revenue per user was a meager US$7.13 annually. Since this alone is an unsustainable business model, most providers are turning to advertising, third-party apps and wholesale arrangements with traditional operators."
Regardless, the market obviously isn't going away as Infonetics expects compound annual growth of 145 percent for voice calls made on LTE (News - Alert) networks between 2012 and 2017.
Of course, with the prevalence of mobile VoIP on the rise at such a drastic rate, it's only logical that some of these OTT mobile VoIP subscribers will be businesses users. Indeed, the flexibility and higher availability offered by the service is ideal for business use.
However, many organizations — such as financial companies in the U.K. — require that all calls be recorded, whether landline, mobile, VoIP or mobile VoIP. Fortunately, SIP Print already has this covered with its call recording appliance, which is capable of listening for VoIP traffic on a network. It's even available in three editions — express for up to 15 seats, small business for up to 70, and enterprise, covering 200 seats — supporting businesses of any size.
Edited by Rachel Ramsey