A new report has predicted that combined global VoIP (voice over internet protocol) revenues for 2012 will amount to a total of $65 billion.
The report, by independent media and research organisation, Visiongain, claims that, in contrast, 2012 is likely to be seen as a year in which the market for traditional land-line based systems hits an all-time low.
The report is also understood to undertake a detailed analysis of how the VoIP market is likely to progress between now and 2017.
Commenting on the findings of the report – The Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Market 2012-2017: Prospects for Skype and Other Players – the report’s authors said:
‘VoIP…represents…a significant opportunity for growth – the only barrier to success lies with strategy. VoIP can no longer be throttled by operators, instead it must be adopted and the telecoms landscape must change in accordance.’
The Visiongain report is the latest of many market analysis surveys which place VoIP and internet protocol (IP) telephony in general at the centre of communications over the coming few years.
The market for business VoIP in particular has already enjoyed considerable growth; with many enterprises attracted to the flexibility business VoIP contributes to the scalability of business phone systems.
There have also been noted benefits from business VoIP in terms of reduced phone costs; easy-to-organise multi-caller conferencing; greater capacity for call re-routing; and the ability to use the same extension regardless of location.
The market has admittedly also been aided by the increased opportunities for business VoIP among small to medium sized enterprises.
These have been made available both through technological facilitators such as session initiation protocol (SIP) trunking; and by the financial incentive of using the services of a host business VoIP provider or VoIP reseller, rather than having to invest in capital intensive in-house IP telephony equipment.
