Hosted and business VoIP services see uptake

BOSTON, USA: Market research firm Infonetics Research recently published three voice over IP and unified communications reports:

Also Read: VoIP to stabilize carrier IP telephony mkt in 2010

'Communication Expenditures and IP PBX Vendor Ratings: North American Enterprise Survey'.

'VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers', a market size, share, and forecast report tracking business and residential/SOHO (small office/home office) voice over IP services and

'Enterprise Unified Communication, VoIP, and TDM Equipment', a quarterly market size, share, and forecast report (fourth quarter edition).

Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst, enterprise voice and data, Infonetics Research, said: “The enterprise telephony market was hit hard in 2009 due to the recession, but based on the latest quarterly shipment figures and results from our March 2010 survey of North American enterprises about IP PBX spending, it appears that the bleeding has stopped and 2010 promises to be a better year, good news for vendors and service providers alike."

"From our IP PBX survey, it appears that businesses are increasingly embracing a hosted services model, as their capacity needs will depend on how robust the economic recovery is, and hosted services allow them to more easily ramp their capacity needs up and down without a huge cash layout for equipment,” notes Machowinski.

Diane Myers, directing analyst, service provider, VoIP and IMS, Infonetics Research, adds: "VoIP services sold to the residential/SOHO market still make up the lion’s share (about three-quarters) of total VoIP service revenue, but we saw a pick-up in business VoIP service revenue growth in late 2009 and service providers report that they are seeing increasing interest in hosted VoIP services across all sizes of businesses, including large enterprises."

"We expect this trend to continue as more companies turn to hosted services for their voice needs, with business VoIP services making up almost a third of all VoIP service revenue by 2014,” adds Diane.

IP PBX Enterprise Survey Highlights

Most phone extensions today are delivered via IP PBXs, having out-shipped TDM PBXs for years, and are finally taking up a sizable share of the installed base.

Businesses expect to increase their phone extensions at a slightly higher-than-normal growth rate over the next two years (15 percent), which can be attributed to hiring and growing following the recession.

Virtually all future growth in phone extensions will come from IP platforms, whether hosted or customer-owned.

Applications expenditures are expected to rise 14 percent in 2010; they will play a crucial role in increasing an organization’s efficiency and employee productivity.

VOIP and Unified Communication Services Market Highlights

Service provider revenue from residential/SOHO and business VoIP services increased 20 percent between 2008 and 2009, to $41.6 billion.

IP connectivity services are the fastest growing segment of the business VoIP services market, followed by hosted VoIP and unified communication services and managed IP PBX services

The sweet spot of the North American IP Centrex services market continues to be small businesses (fewer than 100 employees), although service providers are increasingly signing new customers with more than 100 employees.

Central and Latin America (CALA) saw the strongest revenue growth for VoIP services in 2009, led by the residential VoIP segment, which jumped 84 percent.

The number of residential/SOHO VoIP subscribers grew 24 percent in 2009 to 132 million worldwide.

Japan’s NTT, Comcast in North America, and France Télécom are the world's largest VoIP service providers, together holding roughly 20 percent of the world’s residential and SOHO VoIP subscribers.

4Q09 Enterprises VOIP and UC Equipment Market Highlights

In 4Q09, worldwide sales of enterprise unified communication, VoIP, and TDM equipment together grew three percent sequentially, to $2.2 billion.

For the 2009 year, revenue dropped 21 percent, from $10.4 billion to $8.2 billion.

Revenue is expected to see a lift in 2010, led by pure IP PBX phone systems, as worldwide economic conditions improve.

Cisco continues to lead the pure IP PBX system market, although their annual revenue is down in 2009 from 2008, while NEC and Aastra made big gains in this segment.

Worldwide IP phone shipments continue to recover from their low point in early 2009, up eight percent in 4Q09 from 3Q09 and up seven percent from 4Q08 (one year prior).