IDD traffic saw another slowdown in growth in 2010 thanks in part to the increasing popularity of VoIP players like Skype, whose volume growth was over double the rest of the industry last year.
New data from TeleGeography released Thursday indicated overall IDD traffic grew an estimated 4% in 2010, compared to 5% growth the previous year and the 15% average growth rates from the previous two decades.
Part of the slump can be chalked up to the economic recession from 2007 to 2009, which impacted IDD demand on both the consumer and business segments (with calling cards seeing a sharp drop in volumes last year).
However, says TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert, VoIP players such as Skype are another key factor for the IDD slowdown.
Skype alone is projected to record a net volume increase of 45 billion minutes in 2010 – more than twice the volumes added by all the world’s carriers combined.
“Demand for international communications remains strong, but ever more people are discovering that they can communicate without the services of a telco,” Beckert said.