Report: Europe leads in consumer VoIP adoption

Convergence & VoIP This newsletter is sponsored by Websense Discover, Monitor, and Protect Your Data Is your data secure? Are you in compliance? Is your organization at risk of losing its competitive advantage? Attend this webcast to learn how to discover, monitor, and protect your data and learn what's new with Content Protection Suite v6 from Websense - the only solution to provide Total Content Protection. Network World's Convergence & VoIP Newsletter, 07/18/07 Report: Europe leads in consumer VoIP adoption By Steve Taylor and Larry Hettick We’ve dedicated several newsletters to talk about the uptake in consumer VoIP here in the United States, discussing progress made by Comcast, Vonage, SunRocket and others. But it appears the real consumer VoIP momentum is in Europe, according to a recently released In-Stat report. The report titled “Europe Leads the Booming Consumer VoIP Market,” “provides forecasts for global VoIP subscribers, segmented by region, through 2011 [along with] analysis of major VoIP markets around the world, [and the] market drivers and challenges,” according to the company’s statement. Readers can find out more about the In-Stat report by clicking here. According to In-Stat: Network World Buyers Guides Find the right products for your enterprise - fast. With seven categories - security, storage, convergence and VoIP, network infrastructure, network applications, wireless and LAN/WAN management - you can quickly pinpoint the hardware or software you need. With the side-by-side comparison tool you can evaluate product features and make the best purchase decisions for your enterprise. Click here to go to the Buyers Guides now. *Total VoIP subscribers worldwide increased by 34 million subscribers in 2006. * The European consumer VoIP market increased by over 14 million subscribers last year. The countries with the largest VoIP subscriber gains in 2006 include France, Germany, and the Netherlands. * In contrast, U.S. wireline operators added only 4 million VoIP subscribers in 2006. In 2011, the U.S. will represent only 18% of the global consumer VoIP market. * By 2011, the consumer VoIP market will total nearly $44 billion worldwide. Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst, noted that, “the European VoIP market is being aided by local loop unbundling (LLU), the introduction of cable telephony and triple-play service bundles, as well as operator consolidation.” Our analysis: We believe that the relatively high cost of POTS calls in Europe - especially international calling, (compared to the cost of U.S. phone calls) is another reason for the rapid adoption of VoIP in Europe. Furthermore, the widespread availability of affordable broadband access in European countries also is a contributing factor to VoIP’s success. And, we would point out that while businesses do consider price as one factor when deciding to go forward with VoIP, other factors like enhancing worker productivity are also a big part of the enterprise business case whereas consumers are more likely to make price the biggest part of their decision to adopt VoIP. And, as In-Stat’s Nissen points out, the United States isn’t the only country offering a triple-play bundle.  Not to overstate the obvious, but it looks to us like consumer VoIP is here to stay.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. For more detailed information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter, connect to Webtorials, the premier site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and market research. Taylor can be reached at taylor@webtorials.com Larry Hettick is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience in voice and data. He is Vice President for Telecom Services and Infrastructure at Current Analysis, the leading competitive response solutions company. He can be reached at lhettick@currentanalysis.com This newsletter is sponsored by Websense Discover, Monitor, and Protect Your Data Is your data secure? Are you in compliance? Is your organization at risk of losing its competitive advantage? Attend this webcast to learn how to discover, monitor, and protect your data and learn what's new with Content Protection Suite v6 from Websense - the only solution to provide Total Content Protection. ARCHIVE Archive of the Convergence & VoIP Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007