Integrationįor those who use landlines, VoIP means going to a computer and placing a call away from the telephone. To grow past a certain point, VoIP providers will have to show the same billing capabilities and maturity of telephone companies. But if money is left on a Skype account too long, the company pockets the sum. And yet, to keep growing, Skype and its kin will eventually have to address two major issues:Ĭasual users might be satisfied with paying small amounts in advance and working off their balance. The quality of calls is reasonably good and more than satisfactory for most purposes. In 10 years, VoIP services have taken over a significant part of international voice traffic, even before the economy upheaval of 20. According to TeleGeography, the growth in traditional phone traffic minutes dropped sharply from 2008 to 2009 and then stayed level in 2010:īut perhaps a clearer sign of the trend is an analysis of international call volumes: ![]() To get a sense of the change over just the last two years, in 2008, Skype had 8 percent of international voice traffic by minutes. The rates are far lower - and even hit zero when both parties to a call use the same VoIP package. However, all that may have done was reinforce the ease of using VoIP to route calls over the Internet, rather than through proprietary telephone networks. Economic conditions are reflected in sharply reduced calling card volumes, and in a drop in traffic from the U.S. One factor contributing to the slowdown is the deep recession of 2007-2009, which affected business demand for international communications and many consumers' ability to pay for international telephone calls. Telecos did have to deal with a bad economy, which was a significant factor in the traditional voice slowdown: ![]() That's a real shift in business dynamics that will leave telcos with significant smaller revenues and little to no chance to reverse the trend. According to a TeleGeography press release, during 2010, Skype represented 24.7 percent of all international calling minutes. Skype's international call traffic is growing at twice the number of total minutes that regulation international phone carriers see.īut the story is about more than growth rates. If there's ever been doubt that voice over IP (VoIP) telephony will cause traditional phone service some big problems, some recent data from research firm TeleGeography should put that to rest.
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