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Global
News
August
5, 2003
IP
telephony -- an application worth hearing
UNITED
STATES -- According to In-Stat/MDR's recently published
report, inspite of going through a boom and bust cycle
in the past, IP telephony still remains a viable consumer
service. The high-tech market research firm believes
that consumer IP telephony is currently at the beginning
of a transition phase with the growth of broadband enabling
IP telephony providers to merge lower rates with greater
quality and features. Broadband providers, over time,
will see IP telephony as an application that will help
grow overall broadband usage, as it increases the overall
value of the broadband service for the consumer.
When
people think of consumer IP telephony, they often think
of sound quality equal to two cans tied together with
string, or as a dot.com fad. IP telephony, however,
is far from either one of those things. Overall by 2007,
the US IP telephony market is likely to grow to over
5 million subscribers. While this shows a five-fold
increase in subscribers over 2002, it still lags POTS
with over 100 million households.
In-Stat/MDR
also found that:
- Currently
the three biggest regions for service revenues and
subscribers are the United States, the Asia Pacific,
and the Middle East/Africa.
- The
biggest regions for future service revenue growth
will be those with the highest household broadband
penetration rates. Household broadband penetration
will lead to greater device-to-phone services, which
tend to generate higher monthly recurring service
fees than either PC-to-phone or phone-to-phone. During
2006 and 2007, the US will see greater interest on
the part of traditional telephone providers in offering
IP telephony services.
- As
device-to-phone service grows, In-Stat/MDR expects
to see the emergence of more services that satisfy
the requirements for primary line service, especially
from the cable operators. Eventually IP telephony
will grow, so that consumers no longer see it as a
specific service, but merely an underlying transport
technology. Eventually IP telephony will be the POTS.
Contact:
In-Stat/MDR
Tel: +1-480-609-4533
www.instat.com
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