Incumbents Increase Voip Lead As Subs Double In 2006

摘要

VoIP subscriber numbers doubled across several major European markets last year, according to reports from national regulatory authorities (NRAs). According to French regulator AR-CEP, by end-2006 there were 6.6 million VoIP subscribers in France, up from 3.3 million in 4Q05, while in Germany, BNetzA estimated that there were around 3.5 million VoIP subscribers at end-2006, up from 1.8 million the previous year. Figures published by the Danish and Norwegian regulators indicate similar growth rates (see fig. 1). Despite incumbents' initial fears that VoIP would eat into their PSTN voice revenues, VoIP growth is helping to stabilise and in some cases increase overall fixed-telephony subscriptions and traffic. According to ARCEP, IP-traffic volumes accounted for 23% of fixed-telephony traffic by end-2006 and more than doubled during the year. The regulator reports that, thanks to VoIP, the volume of fixed-telephony traffic has stabilised since the middle of 2004, before which it was in decline.