The changing world of telephony

Posted by Karen on Nov 11, 2015 12:00:00 AM

The rural broadband debate continues on with David Cameron’s latest promise to deliver superfast broadband to every home and business that wants it by 2020. While the industry continues to debate how, why and where the money comes from it is important to look at what the internet enables and why it is so important for the industry to get it right. If we take something as seemingly simple as telephone calls, connectivity has a huge role to play, both now and in the future. Even if people don’t realise it, they are already making the majority of their calls over the Internet. Yes, many use Skype or similar for both personal and business calls but there are also more and more desktop phones that are now Internet-enabled. Future Market Insights’ research into the VoIP services market shows this is the case, finding the phone to phone segment of the market is worth almost as much as the computer to computer segment, and is expected to overtake it by 2019. “The computer to computer segment of the VoIP services market registered revenue at US$ 20.74 Bn with 57.4 Mn subscribers in 2012. By 2019 however, this segment is expected to account for US$ 24.74Bn with72.2 Mn subscribers. Phone to phone segment accounted for US$ 15.88 Bn with 35.9 Mn subscribers in 2012 and is expected to increase to US$ 44.78 Bn with 116.5 Mn subscribers by 2019. The computer to phone segment accounted for US$ 27.35 Bn with 58.3 Mn subscribers, and is projected to increase to US$ 56.56 Bn with a 128.3 Mn-strong subscriber base by 2019”.

Global markets need low-cost calls

The cost savings are well-known to businesses so more are investing in the technology. Especially as businesses continue to compete on a global level and, therefore, need to be making previously costly international calls on a daily basis.

Even BT has said that landlines could be non-existent by 2025, and that is a large proportion of its business. It is not hard to see why. In 2014, Skype’s international traffic growth was nearly 30 percent greater than the combined new traffic of every carrier in the world, according to research firm TeleGeography. Some companies are taking action and optimising connections in order to take full advantage of VoIP. SureTec, for example, has expanded in order to become a network operator and deliver VoIP to its many customers with a dedicated network. The internet telephony market is certainly growing at an alarming rate. However, without the right Internet connections, none of this would be possible. It is more important than ever that all the promises on rural broadband are delivered.

Topics: News