Mobile VoIP users to exceed 100m by 2012

Juniper Research reports that worldwide users of mobile voice-over-IP (VoIP) will exceed 100m by 2012. >50% will reside in Europe and North America (correlation between 3G access and mobile VoIP take-up).

Mobile operators likely to lose USD5bn in revenue by 2015 because of mobile VoIP apps on Wi-Fi networks. Traffic volumes likely to be be higher in developing markets (calling patterns of migrant workers).

Forrester: CaaS heats up

According to Forrester Research, the Communications-as-a-service (CaaS) market is heating up. CaaS delivers voice, conferencing, contact center, IVR, and unified communications services from services providers' or vendors' networks and secure platform. Customers typically pay per user, per month, or per transaction for full life-cycle support. Providers offer sophisticated applications in the cloud, allowing companies to deploy advanced unified communications services quickly and affordably across a distributed environment. Surveys show that there is high interest by enterprise communication decision-makers in adopting CaaS services in the future.

Forrester report

Home office: Many advantages

Oliver Gassmann, chairman of the Institute for Technology Management at the University in St. Gallen: Home office work clearly decreases illness and absences. Occurence of burn-out syndroms is 45% lower (5% instead of 48%) when employees are working periodically from home. An average office worker is disturbed every 11 minutes and needs after each break 8 minutes till reaching full concentration. Also unproductive meetings and noise of other employees are disturbing the flow of work. Home office workers are not only more focused, but also faster.

Survey in the US: 60% of Americans prefer home office work for a better work-life balance. Around 30% have more time for their family due to home office work. 47% appreciate that due to home office work, they spare travel time.

Mathias Binswanger, professor for political economy at the advanced technical college of Nordwestschweiz: Home office work is reducing stress and increasing quality of life. In Switzerland, productivity could be improved 30% due to home office work and till 2020, home office use will increase tenfold.

Nearly 300 mio. will use mobile VoIP by 2013

There will be 288m mobile voice-over-IP (VoIP) users by 2013, generating annual revenues of USD35.2bn, according to market research firm In-Stat. More than 50% of these will use online mobile VoIP providers, nearly 33% will access the service via their mobile operator or 3G MVNO, and 11% will use 4G WiMAX or LTE operators. According to the report, the Asia-Pacific region will see the biggest growth rates and overtake Europe to become the market leader.

The growth of VoIP services and 3G networks has led analysts to speculate that all calls made via mobile phones will eventually be VoIP. The services are

• much less expensive than traditional phone calls, especially internationally, and
  
• could force operators to cut the prices of mobile plans with inclusive minutes.

For this reason, operators are reluctant to embrace VoIP.