Wholesale VoIP - VoIP-Connected Households Predicted to Reach 30M by 2010

Wholesale VoIP Feature Article

VoIP-Connected Households Predicted to Reach 30M by 2010

October 16, 2008

By Calvin Azuri, TMCnet Contributor

Pike & Fischer’s (News - Alert) Broadband Advisory Services has found that the market for VoIP in the U.S. will experience significant growth over the next two years. Approximately 8.5 million new users will adopt voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for their home phone service. The market is predicted to grow at a rate of about 14 percent annually over the next five years.

The findings are part of the new report titled, "Residential VoIP Market Outlook." Pike & Fischer has arrived at these findings after evaluating the latest growth trends pertaining to the adoption of VoIP services by consumers. It also takes into consideration the rapid growth in the deployment of digital service bundles, such as multichannel video, high-speed Internet and home phone.

According to the report, around 30 million households in the United States will be VoIP-connected by the end of 2010. This translates to over $11 billion in revenues for cable operators, telephone companies and network-independent providers like Skype (News - Alert).

The study also found that major telephone companies like Verizon and AT&T (News - Alert) will see a reduction in the number of residential lines, but significant growth in the number of VoIP customers. These companies will continue to draw more customers with their fiber-optic service packages (Verizon's (News - Alert) FiOS and AT&T's U-verse). The cable industry, on the other hand, will experience a much lesser growth in its subscriber base since it is lagging in the VoIP customer capturing race.

The findings also suggest that smaller VoIP service providers like Vonage (News - Alert) won’t realize similar growth levels. This is due to the fact that their services do not come in discount bundles, like the bigger companies.

Pike & Fischer's Broadband Advisory Services is the market intelligence arm of Pike & Fischer - A BNA Company. The company’s services offer knowledgeable, accurate and insightful analysis on the broadband, IP and new media businesses to facilitate effective strategic decision making.

Pike & Fischer's BAS offers its subscribers news and analysis, research, ongoing financial analysis and market forecasting, market intelligence and custom research covering cutting-edge business and technology topics -- including high-speed data access, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), streaming media, on-demand media, home networking and mobile broadband.

Calvin Azuri is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Calvin's articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Michelle Robart