A lot of people have a lot to say about the world of Voip. And one of the hottest areas of discussion has always been the rate of growth across different industry sectors - from business to residential to 4G - each sector has felt the impact of Voice Over IP technology. But when you break through the stats, just what does it all boil down to?
But you have to be careful when listening to industry 'experts' as they regale their stories of Voice over IP statistics, for fear that they may get carried away with their extrapolating and predicting - for the truth of the matter is that some of the facts and stats simply sound too incredible to be true.
There are a number of reasons, it seems, as to why Voip enjoys such a secure footing in the marketplace - namely reasons such as the fact that they are distributed via several facilities allied with the fact that they are able to accommodate businesses, state bodies and consumers alike
But it has not has things all its own way, as a quick look at the stats from the residential consumer market over the past few years will show. In this sector usage has been steadily declining since 2010 due to a combination of factors, ranging from competition from Google to the introduction of stricter US regulations.
However, all that looks set to change with the widespread introduction of 4G technology, which is expected to take the Voip consumer market by storm in the coming years, with mobile applications predicted to grow to in excess of $35 billion dollars by 2016, with over 180 million users.
And as for prediction for the future of Voip, there are plenty of them to go around. Firstly, it is estimated that Voip will account for approximately 100 billion minutes (by 2015) of mobile calls, however, mobile is not predicted to outperform the standard voice market thanks to the restrictive legislation being imposed by US authorities in an attempt to 'level the playing field'.
Voip operators have already begun teaming up with a view to the increased competition for market share that will be evident in the near future, with Google Voice partnering with Sprint, Telefonica taking over Jajah and most recently Microsoft partnering with Skype.
And so although it is without doubt that the Voip marketplace is in good hands and set to continue in good spirits for the foreseeable future, it seems clear that efforts will be made wherever possible to put guidelines in place to stop the industry from sweeping away all competition, and give the little(r) guys a chance (at least for a little while yet).
But you have to be careful when listening to industry 'experts' as they regale their stories of Voice over IP statistics, for fear that they may get carried away with their extrapolating and predicting - for the truth of the matter is that some of the facts and stats simply sound too incredible to be true.
There are a number of reasons, it seems, as to why Voip enjoys such a secure footing in the marketplace - namely reasons such as the fact that they are distributed via several facilities allied with the fact that they are able to accommodate businesses, state bodies and consumers alike
But it has not has things all its own way, as a quick look at the stats from the residential consumer market over the past few years will show. In this sector usage has been steadily declining since 2010 due to a combination of factors, ranging from competition from Google to the introduction of stricter US regulations.
However, all that looks set to change with the widespread introduction of 4G technology, which is expected to take the Voip consumer market by storm in the coming years, with mobile applications predicted to grow to in excess of $35 billion dollars by 2016, with over 180 million users.
And as for prediction for the future of Voip, there are plenty of them to go around. Firstly, it is estimated that Voip will account for approximately 100 billion minutes (by 2015) of mobile calls, however, mobile is not predicted to outperform the standard voice market thanks to the restrictive legislation being imposed by US authorities in an attempt to 'level the playing field'.
Voip operators have already begun teaming up with a view to the increased competition for market share that will be evident in the near future, with Google Voice partnering with Sprint, Telefonica taking over Jajah and most recently Microsoft partnering with Skype.
And so although it is without doubt that the Voip marketplace is in good hands and set to continue in good spirits for the foreseeable future, it seems clear that efforts will be made wherever possible to put guidelines in place to stop the industry from sweeping away all competition, and give the little(r) guys a chance (at least for a little while yet).
About the Author:
Saul Saresi is an authority on all things Voip and writes regularly for his site business phone More examples of his writing can be found here business voip system