There are three billion phones on the planet - two billion fixed phones and another billion mobile. The percentage of those utilizing Voice-over-IP technology is so small that it doesn’t show up on the radar. In-Stat research estimates that there were a total of 16 million VoIP subscribers in 2005, and will grow to only 55 million in 2009. A recent report by In-Stat found the following:
- 73% of all VoIP subscribers worldwide have migrated to VoIP without making a conscious buying decision to adopt the new technology. - In North America and Canada, cable operators are aggressively expanding their VoIP footprint, but are marketing VoIP as plain old telephone service. - In Asia, South Korea will have the highest VoIP growth rate, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore. - In Europe, broadband ISPs, such as Free Telecom (France) and FastWeb (Italy) are leading the way with innovative consumer triple-play service bundles.
Even if you factor in Skype, the numbers are not big enough. But that doesn’t mean VoIP is not disruptive. In order to see its true potential, we need to start looking beyond cheap calls. It is the theme for this week’s Om & Niall PodSessions, where we discuss the ins-and-outs of marrying voice with applications.