The voice over internet protocol market (VoIP) in Asia is continuing to expand at an impressive rate, with new figures from In-Stat predicting total revenue to rise to $10 billion by 2009, up from $5.5 billion in 2004.
In-Stat claims that long distance calls currently create the bulk of VoIP business in Asia, providing 85.4% of total revenue in 2004.
Commenting on the up-take of VoIP in the region, Victor Liu, In-Stat analyst said: “Adoption of local VoIP services is slow due to regulatory barriers in many countries and the dominance of incumbent players.”
He added: “In Japan, however, competitive service providers such as Yahoo! broadband have demonstrated new services and woo customers in a loose regulatory framework.”
According to In-Stat, there were just 8.7 million VoIP lines in Asia, with, despite the strong growth, regulators still having to make hard decisions to ensure smooth market development, with some vendors placing high stakes on VoIP for their future success.
An earlier report from In-Stat found that one of the main obstacles hindering the growth of IP telephony is consumers lack of knowledge on the technology, with the firm asserting that consumer education and acceptance are still major challenges for service providers (see Broadband IP Telephony To Reach 3.2 Million By End Of 2005).
This concern is echoed in research in a study from TeleGeography Research, which shows that 30% of residential broadband subscribers in the US have never heard of VoIP (see VoIP Fails To Reach US Consumers).
Despite these problems however, In-Stat estimates that by the end of 2005 there will by 3.9 million broadband IP lines in use, up from 1.3 million at the end of 2004.
Elsewhere, In-Stat expects strong growth for IP technology in the Asia-Pacific region, with television streaming through the medium (IPTV) forecast to rise by nearly 80% annually through 2010, predicting the market’s revenues to reach $4.2 billion by 2010 (see Asia Pacific To See IP Reach $4.2 Billion By 2010).
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