European Vacation
With the World Cup in full swing, it's a good time to turn our attention to other parts of the globe. Americans are, after all, prone to looking inward most of the time. Since the Cup Finals are in Germany, let's focus on Europe for today. As VoIP continues to grow in popularity here in the States, it's easy to overlook what's happening with the technology elsewhere. But businesses and many consumers in America will be directly affected by VoIP in Europe, and the development of the technology as a whole is linked to a number of European companies.
Studies that were taken as late as October of last year showed that Europeans were not taking to VoIP technology as quickly as many thought they would:
"In fact, less than half of the European organizations surveyed have spent anything on IP telephony, and less than a third expect to increase spending this year. Indeed, Velez notes that while 32% of companies surveyed are evaluating or piloting VoIP, and there will be twice as many deployments this year than in 2004, some 40% of respondent still have no immediate plans to adopt the technology." (From Information Week)
As more affordable options have become available, things have started to turn around for European VoIP, but other studies suggest that VoIP interest and spending peaked quickly and that it will simply drop off over the next several years:
"International callers from Europe will spend more than $31 billion on Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP) bypass this year. Since EU telecommunications companies have brought their international rates into line with actual costs, the attractiveness of VoIP as an arbitrage opportunity has already peaked and will gradually diminish." (From Insight Research)
Despite the number, don't be quick to write off the long-term future of VoIP. Numbers seldom account for innovation, and innovation is what will drive the technology forward. Whisperings out of France have already started to prove this point:
"VoIP is gaining momentum in France with a large number of cell phone users keen to use Wi-Fi convergence technology to make cheap VoIP calls on their hand-held sets...Remi Thomas, an analyst with Cheuvreux is optimistic about the growth of VoIP market as it saves a lot of money on user's mobile phone bill. It seems that France is going to be the leader in wireless convergence, preparing ground for the dual-mode handset industry." (VoIP Now)
VoIP in Europe and the U.S. might not follow the exact same trajectory, but businesses and everyday phone users on both sides of the ocean are starting to realize that the technology simply offers them more options and a way to save some money.
Enjoy the soccer (or football) games.