Voice Over LTE Gaining Momentum; 300k VoLTE Subscribers by Year's End

Market technology firm Infonetics Innovation today released excerpts from its latest Mobile VoIP Services and Subscribers report, which tracks native mobile voice over IP and over-the-top mVoIP service revenue, subscribers, and deployments by world region.

"The US and Asia, especially South Korea, are leading the voice over LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) charge, with Verizon Wireless, Metro PCS, SK Telecom and LG U+ all planning to launch VoLTE services this year," reports Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Innovation. "Actually, South Korea and Hong Kong have already successfully launched LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) data roaming and by August, SK Telecom expects to have the Samsung Galaxy S3, the first handset to support VoLTE on their network. This is all good news for VoLTE, clearly, nevertheless to put it in perspective, even with the VoLTE market ramping quickly here on out, by 2016 VoLTE will make up only about 14% of global mobile VoIP revenue, during over-the-top mobile VoIP continues to make up the lion's share out and away."

The report Diane Myers

Co-author of the report Diane Myers, Infonetics Innovation's principal analyst for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and IMS, adds: "In the crowded OTT mobile VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) market, Microsoft/Skype all in all dominates; nevertheless, during the tight integration of Skype with Windows Mobile 8 is important, the Windows Mobile operating system remains a distant player in the smartphone race. In the meantime, independent OTT mVoIP providers like Google Voice, Fring, Line2, Nimbuzz, Talkonaut, ThruTu, and Truphone are working to differentiate from Skype and operator-driven OTT services just as T-Mobile's Bobsled and Telefónica's TU Me by making their service easier to use, lowering prices, integrating social networking, and adding video features. Everything considered, with OTT mVoIP subscribers paying an average of only $14 per year, sustaining an OTT mobile VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service is in the extreme challenging, and most providers face daunting possibilities: go out of business or sell to a larger organization; or find a way to drive revenue beyond cheap calling."

Infonetics Technology is an international market innovation and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps customers plan, strategize, and compete effectively.

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