VoIP Aside, Other IP Services to Generate $700B by 2013

(Top News, 29 Sep 2008)

Voice over IP (VoIP) will generate little revenue for phone companies and other telecommunications carriers in the years ahead, but six other Internet-enabled communications services geared to the needs of consumers are expected to generate more than $700 billion for cellular and land line phone companies worldwide over the next five years, according to a new research from The Insight Research Corp. These new Internet-enabled services include residential video telephony; fixed-mobile convergence; file sharing and download services; streaming services; location-based services; and presence-based services.

Insight Research notes that with free PC-based VoIP services offered by Skype, Yahoo!, Google, and others, even carrier-class VoIP is likely to be heavily discounted when it is part of a bundle and that, for all intents and purposes, it will be given away. On the other hand, cellular carriers are likely to generate substantial revenue by offering location-based services and presence-based services, and both fixed line and wireless carriers will see substantial revenue gains from such IP-enabled services as video telephone calls; file sharing and download services; and the streaming of video, music, and other entertainment services.

"These new IP-enabled services are the first tangible fruits of next-generation networking," says Robert Rosenberg, Insight Research. "And while our six IP services represent only 2.5 percent and 8.5 percent of global telecommunications services revenues forecasted in 2008 and 2013 respectively, they indicate the direction of future revenue growth as voice revenue declines. These six IP services together will generate about eight and a half times that of basic VoIP services by 2013."

Click here for more information on Insight Research