Over-the-top mVoIP subscribers to touch 1 bn mark in 2013

BANGALORE, INDIA: The number of global over-the-top (OTT) mobile VoIP (mVoIP) subscribers shot up more than 550 per cent in 2012, to over 640 million, and is expected to approach the 1 billion mark in 2013, finds market research firm Infonetics Research.

"While Skype dominates the over-the-top mobile VoIP space, the market is seeing other applications such as Fring, KakaoTalk, Line, Nimbuzz, WeChat and Viber gain in strength," notes Diane Myers, Infonetics Research's principal analyst for VoIP, UC and IMS.

"But the fact remains that most OTT mVoIP providers are making very little money per user. In 2012, the average revenue per user was a meager US$7.13 annually. Since this alone is an unsustainable business model, most providers are turning to advertising, third-party apps and wholesale arrangements with traditional operators," he adds.

Microsoft/Skype had roughly 40 per cent of all active users of OTT mobile VoIP services in 2012. Infonetics projects the number of voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) subscribers to grow at a 145 per cent compound annual growth rate from 2012 to 2017.

Stéphane Téral, Co-author of the report and principal analyst, mobile infrastructure and carrier economics, Infonetics Research, adds: "On the VoLTE front, the success of SK Telecom's VoLTE adoption-3.6 million subscribers in April 2013-has lifted our forecast: we now expect 12 commercial VoLTE networks and 8 million VoLTE subscribers by year-end, with about three-quarters of those in Asia Pacific."

Combined, over-the-top mobile VoIP and VoLTE services are expected to become a $16 billion business by 2017, it adds.