Increased use of Voice over Internet Protocol by cable television operators will help boost cable's presence in the telephone service market, according to a recent In-Stat report.
The report, "Cable Telephony Service: VoIP Finally Shows Up" (#IN0401244MB), provides forecasts for worldwide cable telephony subscribers, VoIP cable telephony subscribers, and installed cable telephony lines through the year 2008. It also forecasts cable telephony service revenues and the growth of "Voice-over-Broadband" cable telephony subscribers over the next five years.
As more cable providers turn to VoIP during the next few years, total worldwide cable telephony subscribers will pass the 14 million mark by late this year, and grow to more than 22 million by year-end 2008.
"The use of advanced IP voice technologies is beginning to attract more cable operators to the idea of delivering voice services," says Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. "Indeed, the buzz surrounding VoIP telephony services has been constant during the past year, and virtually all leading North American cable operators are either investing resources to further explore VoIP's viability, or have actually deployed the service."
In the report, In-Stat has also found that:
* As of late 2004, more than 11 million households and businesses worldwide have signed up for cable telephony service,
* The long-anticipated "VoIP spike" in worldwide subscribers will actually be more of a steady rise, particularly during the 2005/2006 period, as VoIP technology works its way into more Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) networks.
* While there is a great deal of excitement surrounding cable-based VoIP services, the vast majority of cable telephony subscribers still rely on circuit-switched technology. Of the 11.8 million worldwide cable telephony subscribers at the end of 2004, less than 500,000 are using VoIP technology.
In-Stat is based in Scottsdale, AZ. For more information visit www.instat.com.
