VoIP Usage in US on the Rise

Recent research from TeleGeography indicates that while the VoIP market in the US is most definitely on quick rise, Europe is leaps and bounds ahead of us. The total number of US VoIP subscribers nearly doubled in the last year, going from 6.5 million in mid-2006 to a whopping 11.8 million by the second quarter of this year. TeleGeography is projecting that VoIP subscribers in the US will reach a staggering 23.3 million by the year 2011, mostly due to cable companies jumping on the IP telephony bandwagon.

While the US VoIP market is going along at warp speed, Europe’s growth is even sharper, largely due in part to their aggressive pricing and by “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.”

The complete summery of TeleGeography’s US VoIP, can be found here, and TeleGeography’s EuroVoIP here.