Service providers are looking to VoIP as a way to sell more services and boost revenue, according to a new study.
Service providers interviewed say the availability of new applications and services on IP networks is the top reason to adopt VoIP, according to the Infonetics study Service Provider Plans for Next Gen Voice & IMS.
These new service translate in to new revenue, the study says.
VoIP is also attractive because it is cheaper to roll out than traditional phone networks and because once installed, it costs less to run.
This follows on an earlier study by Infonetics that says carrier revenue from VoIP doubled from 2004 to 2005, and projected that this revenue will grow worldwide from $9.1 billion in 2005 to 38.9 billion in 2009.
In the US, VoIP revenue is just about evenly split between residential and business customers, the earlier study says, but in Europe and Asia the split favors residential by about 3 to 1.
In the US, two thirds of all the VoIP revenue is taken in by just three providers: Vonage, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable.
No other carrier has more than 3 percent of the market, according to the older VoIP study. In its most recent report, Infonetics predicts that the largest growth in traffic to come on international long-distance lines where the largest savings for customers are to be had vs. traditional phone services.
All VoIP traffic is projected to double over the next two years, according to the study.
Service providers embrace the idea of IP multimedia subsystems (IMS), which define discrete elements of IP service networks so vendors can build their products to those specifications. Providers say IMS promotes the creation of new services, but the immaturity of IMS architecture is a drawback, the study also said.--Network World