According to a recent study by IDC, revenues from voice telephony are now declining in most European countries. This is due to a decline in connections and traffic revenue resulting from mobile substitution, dial-up broadband migration which offers unlimited use for a flat-rate monthly subscription, and increasing competition from both traditional voice carriers and those offering voice over IP (VoIP).
IDC estimates Fixed Telephony Services in Western Europe, Forecast and Analysis, 20032008 that due to the above trends, the European fixed-voice market will decline from $108 billion in 2003 to $95 billion by 2008, which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -3%. ‘This means a loss of $13 billion over the next five years a massive amount of revenue that will disappear over a relatively short period of time,‘ said Jill Finger Gibson, research director of IDC’s European Fixed-Voice Communications service.
With the total market declining, service providers have entered a fierce battle for market share. ‘However, this can only be a short-term strategy; in the longer term, voice service providers will need to think about the viability of offering traditional fixed-voice services at all. Any PSTN providers, particularly incumbents, which have not yet begun to plan a roadmap for transition to the VoIP world will find themselves in serious trouble by 2008, and possibly out of business entirely,‘ said Finger Gibson. New pricing and packaging, new handsets, and additional value-added services over the PSTN are short-term measures that will stem further losses, but are not enough to ensure long-term growth.
2005-02-11
Em Foco – Empresa