Mobile voice calls made via voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) are anticipated to evolve from niche to mainstream, according to advisor and consulting firm, Deloitte.
This is possible given the availability of new services that blend an increasing range of IP-based features that complement mobile voice, including one-to-many calls, broadcast voicemail, and voice-to-text, the firm adds. “As a result, mobile VOIP services are expected to reach tens of millions of users by the end of 2010, including our technologically-savvy youth.”
According to Danie Crowther, partner at Deloitte: “The rising adoption of mobile VOIP services could cause a fundamental rise in expectations as to what mobile voice can do.”
He says operators will need to understand the short- and medium-term implications of this. “But also consider companies outside of the sector looking to capitalise on the allure of subsidised or free calls to devices to enable the flow of advertising messages,” he adds.
Next-generation networks
Deloitte says 2010 could be an inflection year for VOIP via mobile phone, given the growing number of WiFi-enabled phones, more WiFi hotspots, and the increase in 'one-to-many' communication. ”Within three years, mobile VOIP could be worth over $30 billion globally.”
”Companies may use the allure of free calls to enable the flow of advertising messages, therefore substantiating the mobile voice market's value,” the company adds.
Crowther says portals such as Facebook and Yahoo are likely to look more favourably towards mobile VOIP applications as a way to encourage use of smartphone versions of their Web sites to command greater user loyalty.
Deloitte says the tech-savvy South African youth is poised to migrate from the more impersonal MXit and Facebook, to the cheap alternative VOIP conference calls on their cellphones will bring, along with cheap prepaid data packages.
If mobile VOIP results in declining revenues for operators, investment available for maintaining networks could drop and threaten the roll-out of next-generation infrastructure, the company points out.
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