Carrier VOIP Deployments Surge
A new report from Heavy Reading indicates that VOIP is already widely deployed across most carrier networks and that service providers are planning a mass transition to VOIP networks for the future.
The report, "The Future of VOIP: A Heavy Reading Service Provider Survey," is based on the results of a survey of 176 service provider employees, representing more than 130 different carriers.
In a clear demonstration of wide acceptance, 77 percent of the service provider employees surveyed said they had already deployed VOIP networks. Another 13 percent expect to deploy them in the next 12 months.
Despite that wide acceptance, however, VOIP traffic levels remain relatively low, and present a large opportunity for growth. More than half of respondents said that less than 10 percent of their traffic, in both access and core, is VOIP today -- and the proportion of customers with VOIP-enabled terminals or handsets is even lower. The carriers surveyed expect this traffic to grow dramatically over the next two years.
”Carriers expect a big surge in the proportion of voice traffic that is VOIP,” writes Graham Finnie, Heavy Reading senior analyst and author of the report. “Half the respondents said more than 50 percent of their voice traffic would be IP by 2007, with relatively little difference expected between VOIP in core networks and in access networks.”
One of the biggest drivers of the VOIP migration is apparently fear that their competitors will steal their traffic, especially among ILECs. More than three-quarters of ILEC respondents saw fear of traffic loss as somewhat or critically important.
Fear isn’t the only factor, however. Respondents mostly cited a range of reasons for deploying VOIP, the most important of which were the desire to enter new market sectors and the need to exploit the growth in broadband and the emergence of IP as a universal protocol.
Finnie noted that the survey showed that integration of wired and wireless services, often referred to as fixed/mobile convergence, did not appear to be one of the biggest drivers of VOIP.
”Although VOIP makes it easier to converge fixed and mobile services and add ‘nomadicity’ to services, these were not generally considered as important,” writes Finnie. "WiFi and voice over WiFi also have relatively little resonance for now."
The 32-page report also includes detailed analyses of pricing and capex/opex cost expectations, and an analysis of which VOIP equipment is likely to be favored in new deployments. It’s available here.
— R. Scott Raynovich, US Editor, Light Reading
The report, "The Future of VOIP: A Heavy Reading Service Provider Survey," is based on the results of a survey of 176 service provider employees, representing more than 130 different carriers.
In a clear demonstration of wide acceptance, 77 percent of the service provider employees surveyed said they had already deployed VOIP networks. Another 13 percent expect to deploy them in the next 12 months.
Despite that wide acceptance, however, VOIP traffic levels remain relatively low, and present a large opportunity for growth. More than half of respondents said that less than 10 percent of their traffic, in both access and core, is VOIP today -- and the proportion of customers with VOIP-enabled terminals or handsets is even lower. The carriers surveyed expect this traffic to grow dramatically over the next two years.

One of the biggest drivers of the VOIP migration is apparently fear that their competitors will steal their traffic, especially among ILECs. More than three-quarters of ILEC respondents saw fear of traffic loss as somewhat or critically important.
Fear isn’t the only factor, however. Respondents mostly cited a range of reasons for deploying VOIP, the most important of which were the desire to enter new market sectors and the need to exploit the growth in broadband and the emergence of IP as a universal protocol.
Finnie noted that the survey showed that integration of wired and wireless services, often referred to as fixed/mobile convergence, did not appear to be one of the biggest drivers of VOIP.
”Although VOIP makes it easier to converge fixed and mobile services and add ‘nomadicity’ to services, these were not generally considered as important,” writes Finnie. "WiFi and voice over WiFi also have relatively little resonance for now."
The 32-page report also includes detailed analyses of pricing and capex/opex cost expectations, and an analysis of which VOIP equipment is likely to be favored in new deployments. It’s available here.
— R. Scott Raynovich, US Editor, Light Reading
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
sponsor supplied content
Educational Resources Archive
FEATURED VIDEO
UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS
February 7-9, 2023, Virtual Event
February 15, 2023, Virtual Event
March 15-16, 2023, Embassy Suites, Denver, CO
March 21, 2023, Virtual Event
May 15-17, 2023, Austin, TX
December 6-7, 2023, New York City
UPCOMING WEBINARS
February 2, 2023
DIY Data Center Automation Deep Dive: Challenges and Opportunities for CSPs, Enterprises, and Cloud Providers
February 7, 2023
Optical Networking Digital Symposium - Day 1
February 9, 2023
Optical Networking Digital Symposium - Day 2
February 14, 2023
Achieve Your Growth Potential with Next-Gen Content Delivery
February 15, 2023
Digital Divide Digital Symposium
February 16, 2023
SCTE® LiveLearning for Professionals Webinar™ Series: Getting the Edge on Edge Computing
Webinar Archive
PARTNER PERSPECTIVES - content from our sponsors
How 5G Thrives ASEAN Digital Economy
By Huawei
Capitalizing On 5G Innovation To Deliver Breakthroughs At The Edge
By Kerry Doyle, sponsored by ZTE
All Partner Perspectives
GUEST PERSPECTIVES - curated contributions
Telco vs. Cable: Who comes out on top?
By Cheenu Seshadri, Managing Partner, Three Horizon Advisors
Don't worry about the government?
By Patrick Donegan, Principal Analyst, HardenStance
All Guest Perspectives