While the VOIP market is expected to reach a total of 100 000 plus users within the next three years - totalling billions of rands per year - a recent USA report suggests that VOIP growth in that country might slow for the first time during 2009 due to the hard-felt recession.
This is according to Pieter Botha, operations director at Skycall, a leading VOIP and data specialist. Botha said while the local VOIP market is "buoyant and growing", its growth, from a percentage point of view, might well outstrip the USA.
"What we are going to see locally is a lot of consolidation. There are definitely too many players jumping on the VOIP bandwagon - and many think it is a case of simply selling hardware. You have traditional PABX companies eventually moving into this market, thinking they can make the conversion - and thinking they can reap big financial rewards. But it is not that simple. Even some of the bigger vendors may have to merge, or may be taken over - or may even go to the wall. But, there is certainly going to be growth. It is an exciting market and has been since VOIP was made legal back in 2005."
But things appear a tad more muted in the USA, which, for all intents and purposes, is feeling the worldwide economic recession more keenly than SA currently is.
A recent report published by the Dell`Oro Group suggests that voice over IP adoption in the enterprise marketplace will begin to slow for the first time ever during 2009, largely due to the recessionary times.
Speaking to the USA press, Alan Weckel, Director at Dell`Oro Group, said: "For 2009, we anticipate a degree of vendor volatility that will cause many customers to stay on the sidelines for a longer period of time than we would expect if downward pressure was coming only from the weakened economy.
"Also, as customers look to alleviate budget constraints, IP line growth will slow in the short-term, putting additional downward pressure on the market. In the current environment, some customers will hold on to existing analogue and digital lines for a longer period of time," Weckel added.
Moreover, the Dell`Oro Group Enterprise Telephony Quarterly Report reported that the top providers in the enterprise VOIP arena continue to be Cisco, Avaya and Nortel (see the take over of Nortel by Avaya), based on IP line shipments.
Users misled in SA
But, turning his attention to the local market, Skycall`s Botha said thousands of VOIP users are being "misled in South Africa when it comes to the efficacy of the technology".
He said thousands of VOIP users are under the impression that they were not given the truth about VOIP when they signed on.
"It is common knowledge that there is still animosity in the public view about the use of VOIP. Guaranteed promises of just savings have been made to end-users by various dealers and resellers of VOIP services. Prospective users are not being educated about the shortcomings of VOIP and the limitations due to bandwidth restrictions.
"Skycall has, as part of our national roll-out, been training its resellers and branch solution consultants to inform the prospective customer about the benefits and limitations. When done correctly, the customer will appreciate being informed in a situation where the data connection is down, where network problems occur, or geographical interferences such as weather have a negative impact on wireless or 3G connections."
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