Forecasting the Commercial Impact of Wireless VoIP in the USA and Western Europe

Abstract

A report identifying the triggers for mass market wireless VoIP and quantifying its impact on the fixed and mobile voice markets.

This report answers your key questions:

• What are the barriers to the adoption of wireless VoIP services? How and when will these barriers be overcome, and what will drive adoption?
• What contribution will wireless VoIP make to the total (fixed and mobile) voice market, in terms of traffic volume and revenues?
• What will be the relative contributions of VoIP over 3G, WLAN and BWA?
• How will wireless VoIP usage and revenues compare to fixed voice services?
• How will the evolution of 3G networks affect the migration from circuitswitched voice services to VoIP?
• How will wireless VoIP affect the evolution of mobile voice pricing?
• What actions should operators, service providers, vendors and VoIP software providers take to seize the opportunities that wireless VoIP presents and overcome the risks?

Overview

Retail fixed-line VoIP services are already being adopted by both business and residential customers, and represent a major long-term threat to incumbent fixedtelephony revenues. There is now growing interest in delivering VoIP services over a range of wireless technologies (including 3G, WLAN and WiMAX).

Wireless VoIP services could bring significant opportunities and risks for network operators, service providers and equipment vendors. However, there is still substantial uncertainty over the extent to which wireless VoIP will be adopted and the impact it will have on the usage and revenue of voice services in general.

Currently, wireless VoIP is being driven predominantly by cellular and BWA equipment vendors, keen to sell new VoIPenabled capabilities. However, widespread deployment of wireless VoIP services will demand that mobile operators in particular see a convincing case for wireless VoIP services.

This report identifies the key turning points in the growth of wireless VoIP and quantifies the impact of cellular, WLAN and BWA VoIP on the overall voice market over the next ten years. It identifies the actions needed by network operators, services providers and equipment vendors to maximise the opportunities and minimise the threats.