VoIP Market Stats - A Growing Industry

Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology is allowing operators to provide cheaper communication services to an ever-expanding global consumer base. With VoIP systems, voice signals are converted into digital signals carried over the IP-based network. Businesses, regardless of size, can benefit from efficiently merging voice and data functions and gaining innovative communications features with their VoIP service provider handling hosting, updating and troubleshooting.

What's driving the VoIP market?

Technological advancements and increased usage of the new services over various networks is driving global VoIP services market growth. In 2012, the corporate consumer VoIP market registered 98.9 billion subscribers, accounting for US $43.27 billion in global revenues, according to Future Market Insights (FMI). The research firm forecasts an increase to around 204.8 billion corporate consumer users by 2020, accounting for US $86.20 billion in global revenues.

Offering similar, if somewhat lower, numbers Persistence Market Research, forecast a US $94.1 billion by 2016 increasing to US $194.5 billion by 2024 globally.

Business VoIP services are a driving force in the market. According to Infonetics’ Senior Research Director, “On the residential side, subscribers continue to grow, but revenue has fallen off as VoIP services are included in triple-play packages for almost no cost in many parts of the world.”

A snapshot of the VoIP market

Consider these industry snapshot statistics in looking to understand the global revenue growth for this horizontal market.

• An estimated 688 businesses are in the VoIP industry.⁴
  Global VoIP industry growth is predicted CAGR of 9.1% between 2016-2021.³
• There were 224 million residential VoIP subscribers worldwide in 2014, up 5 percent from the previous year.⁸
• VoIP traffic is forecast to reach 158 petrabytes monthly in 2016.²
• Mobile VoIP applications are expected to reach $36 billion by 2016, with the number of users rising to 180 million, reports Visiongain.⁶
• Facebook launched free VoIP for its mobile Facebook Messenger service in April 2014.¹
• WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014, added mobile VoIP to its messaging app in March 2015.¹
• The managed IP PBX service segment accounted for 27.0% voice over internet market share in 2015 in terms of revenue, followed by the hosted business IP PBX service segment. ⁵
• In 2015, among the various call types, international long-distance VoIP calls segment was valued at US $50.4 billion and is estimated to reach US $55.8 billion by the end of 2016. ⁵
• International long distance VoIP calls were the leading segment with 52% of total 2015 revenue share.³
• The whole VoIP services market for call types was valued at US$ 85.9 Bn in 2015, and is estimated to reach US $94.1 billion by the end of 2016. ⁵
• With 14% of CAGR, Asia Pacific is expected to grow significantly due to escalating use of high speed communications (such as 4G) and modernization of network infrastructure.³

Robust growth in the VoIP market reflects a shift from legacy circuit-switched networks to packet-switched networks. VoIP marketing teams must recognize the opportunities in this market shift while planning to apply data-driven strategies for generating qualified leads and driving conversions.

Sources:

1. BuddeComm Intelligence Report - VoIP and Mobile VoIP Statistics and Insights
Synopsis. (n.d.). https://www.budde.com.au/Research/BuddeComm-Intelligence-Report-VoIP-and-Mobile-VoIP-Statistics-and-Insights.html
2. Data volume of global VoIP service traffic from 2011 to 2016 (in petabytes per month). (n.d.). https://www.statista.com/statistics/267183/forecast-for-the-worldwide-voip-traffic/
3. Global VoIP Services Market Poised to Surge from USD 83 Billion in 2015 to USD 140 Billion by 2021. (2016, May 3). https://Global-VoIP-Services-Market-Poised-to-Surge-from-USD-83-Billion-in-2015-to-USD-140-Billion-by-2021-MarketResearchStore-Com.html
4. IbisWorld. (2015, December). VoIP in the US: Market Research Report. https://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=1269
5. Persistence Market Research. (2016, May). VoIP Services Market. https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/voip-services-market.asp
6. Voice over IP Data Analysis, Market Research & Trends. (n.d.). https://www.google.com/#q=voip%20industry%20statistics&rct=j
7. VOIP Services Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015 - 2025. (n.d.). https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/global-voip-services-market
8. Infonetics Research. (2015, May 8). In VoIP services market, business segment offsets residential slowdown. https://www.infonetics.com/pr/2015/VoIP-UC-Services-Subs-Market-Highlights.asp