In “Global VOIP Has Arrived; Just Not As Expected!” tech research firm In-Stat throws out another crystal ball prediction that total VoIP subscribers worldwide, 16 million in 2005, will balloon to over 55 million in 2009.
But despite an impressive 62 percent year-over-year subscriber growth rate in 2005, InStat officials say, “few consumers have ever heard of the term ‘VoIP.’” In other words, considerable room for market growth here, friends.
“Competition in broadband access services is the key driving force behind VoIP market development,” says Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst. “In addition, multiple waves of new entrants, ranging from broadband ISPs and cable MSOs, to Google and eBay will play significant roles.”
Everyone’s competing to see who can be the most bullish on VoIP. A couple weeks ago Kevin Mitchell, principal analyst of Infonetics Research and author of a report on VoIP’s rosy prospects, said “VoIP subscriber growth is skyrocketing right along with revenue growth: we’re forecasting triple-digit growth from 2005 to 2006, with 6 million new subscribers a year every year from 2006 to 2008, when there will be over 24 million.”