With the promise of cheaper call rates, VoIP telephone services reached 38 million subscribers worldwide last year. This number is forecast to hit over 267 million in 2012, providing a significant challenge to traditional telcos, analysts predict.
According to a new study released by US based ABI Research, consumers’ decisions to switch to VoIP are currently mostly based on lower costs and simplified billing. However principal analyst Michael Arden believes these reasons are temporary, predicting that by the end of the decade the driving motivation will be how VoIP telephony is converged with video, online gaming and other services.
“Hosted service providers, the pioneers of commercial VoIP, are going to grow to some extent, but it will be cable operators and other broadband providers trying to leverage their high speed data networks who will really push VoIP in the future,” Arden said.
“These operators want to add value to their broadband “pipes,” and they want to generate new revenues over and above what they earn from their basic data services.
“While traditional telcos have been slow to embrace VoIP due to their huge investment in conventional telephone networks, their desire for total control of service quality and their fear of upsetting their existing customer relationships, the development of VoIP markets will play out differently in the world’s major regions,” he said.
