Europe has once again outclassed USA in VoIP adoption. In 2006, nearly 14 million Europeans subscribed to VoIP services increasing the customers’ base to 19 million by the end of last year. The number would double and reach 34 million in 2007, In-Stat asserted.
On contrary, the USA has added just 4 million VoIP users in 2006, for a total of 10.6 million subscribers. The total number of VoIP customers in USA will be 15.9 million by the end of 2007, predicts the research firm.
In Stat says,
The European VoIP market is being aided by local loop unbundling, the introduction of cable telephony and triple-play service bundles, and operator consolidation. In contrast, US wireline operators added only four million VoIP subscribers in 2006. No one seems interested in selling anything other than plain-old-telephone-services.
Europe got major boost from France, Germany and The Netherlands as these countries experienced an upward trend in VoIP adoption last year.
I foresee the widening gap may throttle U.S. investment in innovative services and equipment and cause sudden downfall of independent VoIP players such as Vonage.
