Forecasting the Commercial Impact of Wireless VoIP in the USA and Western Europe

There is growing interest in delivering VoIP services over a range of wireless technologies (including 3G, WLAN and WiMAX). However, there is still uncertainty over the extent to which it will be adopted and the impact it will have on the usage and revenue of voice services in general. Such services offer significant opportunities and risks for network operators, equipment vendors and a number of other organisations. The central question addressed by this report is: what will be the impact of wireless VoIP on the overall voice market, and when? The report provides detailed forecasts of traffic volumes, revenues and ARPU for mobile and fixed voice services for the period 2006-15, segmented by wireless technology type (cellular, WLAN and BWA), and by circuit-switched and VoIP services.

Forecasting the Commercial Impact of Wireless VoIP in the USA and Western Europe answers your key questions:

• What are the barriers to the adoption of wireless VoIP services? How and when will these barriers be overcome, and what will drive adoption?
• What contribution will wireless VoIP make to the total (fixed and mobile) voice market, in terms of traffic volume and revenues?
• What will be the relative contributions of VoIP over 3G, WLAN and BWA?
• How will wireless VoIP usage and revenues compare to fixed voice services?
• How will the evolution of 3G networks affect the migration from circuit-switched voice services to VoIP?
• What actions should operators, service providers, vendors and VoIP software providers take to seize the opportunities that wireless VoIP presents and overcome the risks?

Who should read this report

Mobile network operators: senior managers who wish to understand the strategic implications of wireless VoIP for future investment plans can quantify the opportunities and threats that wireless VoIP presents (including its impact on network traffic mix, revenue and investments) and identify appropriate actions that capitalise on opportunities afforded by cellular VoIP and mitigate the risks from third-party wireless VoIP services.

Existing and potential VoIP service providers including BWA operators, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), internet service providers (ISPs), VoIP software developers and service providers: corporate strategists and business development managers who wish to understand and quantify the revenue opportunities from wireless VoIP services can identify the actions required to exploit them.

Cellular equipment vendors: research and development teams and product managers who need to understand how and when cellular VoIP services will become mainstream can identify the necessary cellular infrastructure and services that VoIP providers will require and anticipate the technologies that will maximise the success of wireless VoIP services and gain revenue from new VoIP-enabled products.

Alternative wireless equipment vendors: senior executives who need to understand the potential for VoIP services on WLAN and BWA platforms can develop appropriate solutions based on long-term forecasts.

Financial analysts and investors: can gain insight into when wireless VoIP services will become a mainstream commercial proposition and use the forecasts for quantitative evaluation of future revenue streams, according to different types of wireless network.