US VoIP market is growing fast—but Europe is growing faster.

The number of US consumer VoIP subscribers soared from 6.5 million in mid-2006 to 11.8 million by the 2nd quarter of 2007, according to TeleGeography's US VoIP Research Service. While the growth of network-independent providers like Vonage has slowed sharply, cable companies' rapid voice subscriber gains have more than made up the difference. TeleGeography projects that the number of US VoIP subscribers will rise to 23.3 million by 2011, driven chiefly by the strong growth of cable providers' IP telephony offerings.

Nevertheless, US VoIP subscriber growth is falling well behind the blistering pace set by European VoIP service providers. Both markets experienced similar growth patterns over the first few years of development, but began to diverge in 2006. Several factors help account for Europe’s much more rapid VoIP service growth, including freer access to incumbents’ local copper loops, more aggressive competition and pricing, and the active participation of incumbent operators such as France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and BT in the VoIP market. In Europe, incumbent service providers accounted for 26%of VoIP subscribers, while in the US, AT&T, Verizon and Qwest have remained largely on the sidelines. If these factors remain in place, TeleGeography projects that by 2011, VoIP penetration in Europe will be approximately twice as great as in the US.

'VoIP service in the US has emerged as a mainstream service that is causing traditional service providers some headaches,' commented TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert. 'However, in Europe, VoIP could fundamentally change the structure of the fixed-line market.'

TeleGeography's US and European VoIP research services provide in-depth data and market analysis of the US and European consumer voice over IP markets, including market shares, growth rates, forecasts, and profiles of leading providers.

To download the executive summary of TeleGeography’s US VoIP, please visit: http://www.telegeography.com/products/voip/index.php

To download the executive summary of TeleGeography’s EuroVoIP, please visit http://www.telegeography.com/products/euro_voip/index.php


Source: TeleGeography's US VoIP and Euro-VoIP reports

http://www.telegeography.com