European VoIP—The Revolution is Underway
September 22, 2008
New research from TeleGeography indicates that consumer VoIP subscribership in Europe is skyrocketing. At year-end 2007, 25.3 million consumer VoIP lines were in service in Western Europe, up from 15 million in 2006, and nearly four times the 6.5 million VoIP subscribers in 2005.
The key driver of growth has been aggressively priced bundles of voice, broadband, and video service. While prices vary widely across Europe, many operators charge as little as €30 (U.S. $43) for all three services, including unlimited calling. This strategy has been spectacularly successful: TeleGeography projects that western European VoIP subscribers will top 37 million and will account for 29 percent of western European fixed lines by year-end 2008.
The success of upstart service providers has forced legacy telcos to respond. Most European incumbent phone companies have introduced dual-play or triple-play bundles, which frequently include flat-rate IP telephone service. While their success has varied widely, France Telecom has emerged as the largest VoIP service provider in Europe, and incumbents now account for five of the 10 largest European VoIP service providers.
VoIP Penetration by Country
Some countries are much further along the adoption curve than others. Household penetration of consumer VoIP service in the 13 countries profiled by TeleGeography ranges from 43 percent in France to as low as 2 percent in Spain (see figure). “A fixed-line revolution is underway in Europe,” commented TeleGeography analyst Paul Brodsky, “but it’s certainly not happening at a uniform pace.”
The European VoIP & Triple Play Research Service has been discontinued. For a full list of TeleGeography’s research services, please visit http://www.telegeography.com/research-services/.
