TMCnews Featured Article
February 19, 2009
In-Stat Predicts Growth Rates for VoIP
By Nitya Prashant, TMCnet Contributor
The economic downturn is likely to adversely affect the growth of Voice over IP (VoIP) says a new report released by In-Stat. Of those surveyed by In-Stat (News - Alert), 32 percent of enterprise size businesses said the economic situation has slowed their VoIP deployment plans.
According to the report, deployments will continue to take place but at a reduced rate than before. This is primarily because new entrants to the technology may be skeptical about spending in order to save.
The research brief entitled, “2008 US Business VoIP Overview: Stick to Fundamentals” analyses the key factors driving VoIP adoption, carrier versus premise-based solutions, installed vendor market share as well as looks at the multiple flavors of IP finding roots in the U.S. business market.
Another reason cited for the slower growth of the market is that existing business VoIP users still have plenty of legacy TDM voice solutions in place and are likely to choose solutions involving less up-front costs, or rock-solid financials rather than redrafting further deployment strategies, the report said.
The research also indicates that only 34 percent of businesses with VoIP use it exclusively (no TDM) and that enterprise businesses prefer a partial deployment while SOHO businesses are more likely to go IP-only.
Also, the study uncovered that 13 percent of U.S. businesses use both carrier-based and premises-based IP solutions.
In-Stat also emphasized that broadband IP telephony remains the most common carrier-based business VoIP solution with revenues exceeding $1.1 billion in 2008, as compared to $857 million for hosted IP Centrex service within the U.S.
Yet, despite recent economic slowdowns, growth in all flavors of VoIP is expected at mitigated levels, reaching 74 percent of all U.S. businesses by 2012.
“IP continues to be a partial voice solution for most businesses with VoIP, particularly among larger businesses,” says David Lemelin, In-Stat analyst. “Therefore, there is significant room for growth even among businesses that have already adopted it.”
Nitya Prashant is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Nitya's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi
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