Is it beginning the end of the traditional international carriers? The question dominates the global communication scenario in the wake increasing popularity of Skype and other such IP-based services in recent years.
The growth of IP-based communication services cannot kill the traditional carriers, as of now, although there is a fall in the international carriers’ traffic.
According to TeleGeography Report and Database, international long distance carrier would maintain its growth despite Skype’s rapid popularity. The above chart clearly mentions there is a surge in the voice traffic this year figuratively 313 billion minutes up from 272 billion last year.
The VoIP traffic jumped from 16.6 percent to 19.8 percent and Skype traffic moved from 2.8 percent to 4.4 percent. Undeniably, the Switched traffic faces decline in the share.
In other words, 4.4 percent of global long distance traffic passes through Skype networks. Negatively speaking, Skype seems to be the killer of traditional international carrier’s traffic. However, we should not forget that Skype’s Skype Out service makes Skypers to place calls to traditional telephones. Therefore, not all of Skype’s traffic is a net loss for international carriers.
Concluding the TeleGeography report, we can say that VoIP services including Skype will grow and grow. However, the traditional international carriers are not losing the battle anytime soon.
