Mobile broadband providers urged to support VoIP

Mobile VoIP market has been growing faster in Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America, the latest analysis shows.

According to Frost & Sullivan research firm, mobile VoIP companies in these regions have generated revenues of more than £422m during 2008. By 2015, the VoIP market is expected to get £21bn in revenues, the report said.

Flat rate mobile data pricing and availability of smartphones and faster mobile broadband have made many users to take mobile VoIP, the study has revealed.

Many smartphones, especially Apple iPhone, come with features that allow the customers to use VoIP services using wi-fi or mobile broadband networks.

However, surveys have showed that many ISPs in Europe (70%) prohibit or restrict the usage of VoIP over their popular mobile broadband data plans to safeguard their voice revenues.

“Despite user demand for cost-effective services, some mobile operators will continue to discourage mobile subscribers from using VoIP over cellular networks and suggest that it will not provide the same quality, efficiency and reliability of services offered by the GSM network,” said Saverio Romeo, Senior Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

“Mobile operators realise they can no longer ignore the fact that mobile will be a key component of integrated IP-based communications and next generation wireless technologies such as HSPA+ and LTE.” he added.

The report has called on the mobile operators to support mobile VoIP and offer innovative services such as high-definition voice, integrated voice with context-based information about the user, and a converged presence-enabled address book to differentiate their services from mobile VoIP providers.