TMCnet News
Point Topic: VoIP subscriptions top 100 million worldwideFeb 23, 2010 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- The latest analysis from Point Topic reveals that by the end of September 2009 VoIP subscriptions had grown by 15% in the first 3 quarters of the year to pass the 100 million milestone. "The number is close to 110 million today. This represents steady growth, particularly in the face of the financial turmoil of the recent past. For VoIP though there is an argument that these conditions are an uptake driver since you should be saving money if you're making your calls over IP," says John Bosnell, Senior Analyst at Point Topic. Top countries "The USA keeps the top spot with over 22 million subscribers paying for VoIP services, many over cable, at the end of Q3 2009, just ahead of Japan," says Bosnell. In terms of penetration though it's France that is way ahead of the pack with over 38% of all its fixed lines delivered over VoIP. In contrast, Korea ranked sixth in subscriber terms had around 18% of its fixed lines on IP by September 2009. Top 10 Countries - VoIP subscribers (not softclient*) 1 USA 22,704,900 2 Japan 21,368,000 3 France 16,125,000 4 Germany 8,100,000 5 China 5,000,000 6 South Korea 4,846,839 7 Italy 4,187,000 8 Canada 3,607,318 9 Netherlands 3,446,400 10 UK 2,950,000 "It's competition that's forced the pace in France and with a combination of an enthusiastic set of suppliers, cost effective bundles, appropriate regulation and a developing infrastructure the same could be seen in any market no matter how entrenched the incumbents. Telcos will have to keep developing their own IP voice offerings to meet the challenge" says Bosnell. Skype making strides Softclient VoIP services like Skype add another dimension to the VoIP market. EBay has recently finalised the sale of the VoIP provider. While it is true that the auction site did not find a way of integrating Skype into the rest of its business, Skype continues to grow. For Q3 2009, Skype reported 27.7 billion PC-to-PC minutes, in addition to 3.1 billion Skype Out minutes which are calls terminating on normal phone lines or mobiles. And revenues are also significant, with income for the 12 months to Q3 2009 totalling $653 million. Although that is only equivalent to the revenue of a small telco, it should be remembered that almost 90% of the traffic that Skype carries generates no revenue at all. "VoIP has taken longer to take hold than many had first expected. There have been technical issues, by no means resolved even today, regulatory barriers and customer inertia. Many operators have reduced their standard tariffs to cope with the threat of VoIP, which reduces the incentive to switch. Conditions are starting to become common that should allow for faster growth in the next couple of years, especially when VoIP is provided for a low price in a bundle with broadband and TV. There's certainly enough headroom in enough markets to see adoption increase markedly," says Bosnell. This analysis is taken from Point Topic's latest update to the Broadband Money Makers report IP Telephony. *Point Topic includes only verifiable IP-based telephone subscriptions in these statistics. Services like Skype which are softclient (ie originating on the PC) and which do not report user numbers but only ''minutes'' of calls are excluded. About Point Topic Point Topic is an analyst company focusing entirely on broadband. Point Topic's international services have a global reputation for providing the most up-to-date and authoritative user statistics, supplier profiles and applications reports on DSL, FTTx, cable and other broadband services worldwide. CONTACT: Oliver Johnson, Point Topic e-mail: [email protected] Tel:. +44 (0)20 3301 3303 WWW: http://www.point-topic.com ((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected]. |