Increased use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) by cable television operators will help boost cable’s presence in the telephone service market, according to In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). As more cable providers turn to VoIP over the next few years, total worldwide cable telephony subscribers will pass the 14 million mark by late 2005, and grow to over 22 million by year-end 2008.

The use of advanced IP voice technologies is beginning to attract more cable operators to the idea of delivering voice services. Indeed, the buzz surrounding VoIP telephony services has been constant during the past year, and virtually all leading North American cable operators are either investing resources to further explore VoIP’s viability, or have actually deployed the service.

In a recent report, In-Stat has also found that:

• As of late 2004, more than 11 million households and businesses worldwide have signed up for cable telephony service.  
  
• The long-anticipated "VoIP spike" in worldwide subscribers will actually be more of a steady rise, particularly during the 2005/2006 period, as VoIP technology works its way into more Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) networks.  
  
• While there is a great deal of excitement surrounding cable-based VoIP services, the vast majority of cable telephony subscribers still rely on circuit-switched technology. Of the 11.8 million worldwide cable telephony subscribers at the end of 2004, less than 500,000 are using VoIP technology.

By: DocMemory
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