US VoIP subscribers to hit 33 million by 2010

eMarketer:consumer VoIP spotlights the growth of Internet telephony. The market opportunity for voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) has grown as the rise of broadband has fueled the rise of Internet telephony. eMarketer forecasts that by 2010, there will be 32.6 million US VoIP subscribers, equating to nearly 40% of all broadband households.

The major telecommunications companies used to have the $190 billion US fixed-line telephony market all to themselves. But now the market is up for grabs and cable companies, ISPs, Internet portals and pure-play VoIP providers all want a share.

A fierce battle is emerging in the VoIP market Consumer VoIP - A Fierce Battle In a Larger War. It is only one part of a larger war that is being waged on three (or more) fronts between telecoms and cable MSOs. At stake is the so-called 'triple-play' of residential voice, video and data services, which is a market worth approximately $300 billion.

Revenues and subscribers for the US fixed-line market have been falling for the last five years. According to the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the number of mobile phone subscribers in 2005 - 194.5 million - surpassed landline phone subscribers (172.1 million) for the first time. eMarketer forecasts that landline subscribers will continue to fall as greater numbers of people substitute their landline for a mobile, households upgrade to broadband and more people subscribe to VoIP.

Consumer VoIP - A Fierce Battle In a Larger War.

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