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Find Coverage in Your Area Our extensive network is built firmly upon November 04, 2009 Mobile VoIP - Are Traditional Carriers in Danger? 
By Stefania Viscusi, Assignment Desk Editor
Mobile VoIP is growing rapidly today as a way to reduce calling rates, and as a result, the technology poses a threat to operator revenues, an analyst with Stratecast, a division of IT market research firm Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert), told TMCnet in an interview.
A recent report from In-Stat (News - Alert) notes that by 2013, mobile VoIP applications will generate annual revenues of $32.2 billion, driven by more than 278 million registered users worldwide. This growth has potential to eat into carrier profits as more and more users are looking for less costly voice minutes.
Another study from Fitch Ratings also found that VoIP phone calls “taken through a mobile network cost 15 times less than a 3G call.”
According to Mike Jude, program manager for Stratecast, for carriers who are focusing strictly on connectivity, “this can be a highly destructive development.”
“By undercutting voice services that carriers provide, VoIP providers like Skype (News - Alert) and other industry players, challenge the revenue streams that would justify deployment in the first place,” Jude told TMCnet.
And, with net neutrality, which calls for “open” Internet regulations that would treat all Web content equally, regardless of its destination, likely to also apply to wireless, there won’t be a choice for carriers other than to allow VoIP service delivery over their data-capable smartphones.
What this means, Jude said, is that carriers are going to have to move away from a primary focus on revenue from voice services and change their service models from a focus on connectivity, to something like integrated service delivery which, Jude said, “offers a wider value proposition than just voice telephony.”
Stefania Viscusi is an assignment editor for TMCnet, covering voice and Voice over IP technologies. She also oversees production of TMCnet's e-Newsletters in the areas of Internet telephony and speech technology. To read more of Stefania's articles, please visit her columnist page. Edited by Stefania Viscusi |
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