UK broadband researcher reckons that VoIP, or what it describes as retail IP telephony, grew its 2006 revenue base almost 4 times over the previous year to almost $7 billion.
Annual global revenues grew from $1.8 billion in 2005 to $6.9 billion in 2006 with Western Europe alone generating $2.6 billion in revenue from 14.6 million customers and the Asia-Pacific region generating $1.7 billion across 14.5 million customers.
North America was third in terms of subscribers at 8.6 million but produced $2.4 billion in service revenues. ARPU was highest in the US at $20 while in the other two major regions it was closer to $15 and in Latin America it was $10.
The main targets for IP telephony are heavy telephone users and consumers from markets where the service can offer a significant price advantage. The single bill convenience of having one supplier for broadband telephony and digital TV is another selling point, Point Topic said.
In the future Point Topic expects to see VoIP as part of a broadband bundle from cable operators and additional features such as multiple lines, and free on-net calls to emerge, as well as residential customers enjoying the same benefits as corporate VoIP services, with PABX services, access to computer databases for setting up and logging calls and the benefits of SIP for applications such as multimedia calls.