Research Report: Active Mobile VoIP Subscribers to Triple in 2011

Active mobile VoIP subscriber rates will triple in 2011, growing from nine million in 2010 to 29 million, according to a new NPD In-Stat research report.

Experts report that there’s been a marked increase in smartphone penetration and the breadth of offerings is also growing. The report also notes that there is a rise in the use of mobile voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).

A greater number of providers are introducing services as the addressable market increases with smartphone penetration. And, this includes a growing handful of mobile operators that are beginning to embrace, to some degree, mobile VoIP, according to the findings of the report.

“While VoIP is a well-defined market, mobile VoIP is still in its infancy, with most offerings only being developed over the past several years, and because it’s in its nascent stage, there are significant opportunities for companies to develop the market,” said Amy Cravens, senior analyst at In-Stat (News - Alert), adding that there are also a number of uncertainties, which is not surprising in a new market.

Additionally, the report observes that the primary distribution channel used by respondents to access mobile VoIP offerings is via the OS application store.

The largest concentration of mobile VoIP users is in Western Europe, notes the report. Plus, it predicts that the revenues associated with mobile VoIP usage will increase to over $4 billion in 2015.

Moreover, the report also predicts that LTE (News - Alert) operators are not likely to have a significant impact on the mobile VoIP market until 2013.

This new research is part of NPD In-Stat’s Mobile Applications & Services, which provides analysis and forecasts of the markets for mobile applications and content, including consumer perspectives, usage models, competitive business models, mobile applications, and operating systems (OS).

NPD In-Stat’s market intelligence combines technical, market and end-user research and database models to analyze the Mobile Internet and Digital Entertainment ecosystems.

Recently, the NPD In-Stat research also predicted that the retail value of small cell shipments will reach $14 billion in 2015.

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Anshu Shrivastava is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anshu’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Carrie Schmelkin