2007-04-18 - VoIP Surges While IPTV Lags
VoIP is a genuinely disruptive technology and has changed the telecommunications landscape. IPTV, on the other hand, which requires considerably more bandwidth and technical know-how from service providers, is still in its infancy, according to eMarketer's report Broadband Services: VoIP and IPTV.
Pureplay VoIP provider Vonage was the single largest operator in the
eMarketer estimates that the number of US VoIP subscribers will rise from 9.8 million at the end of 2006 to 41.3 million by the end of 2011. VoIP subscribers will account for over one-third of all
Due to slower than anticipated rollout and take-up of IPTV in the US, eMarketer has revised its estimates down and now forecasts only 4.8 million IPTV subscribers in the US in 2011, up from 300,000 in 2006.
"Early indications suggest VoIP will be very popular worldwide simply because VoIP calls are cheaper," says Ben Macklin, senior analyst and author of the report. Meanwhile, IPTV requires bandwidth, favorable regulatory environments and favorable TV market dynamics, he says
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