The "vast majority" of small businesses in the UK have no understanding of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telephony but those that have heard of it "love it to death", an industry expert has said.

Colin Duffy, a council member for the Internet Telephony Service Providers' Association (ITSPA), said small businesses could "get a lot out of VoIP" as it offers the sort of telephone features, like extensions, call transfer and hold music, that were previously only available to larger companies.

And as more people find out about the benefits of VoIP, demand is growing within the small business sector, Mr Duffy commented.

Some VoIP providers were now seeing monthly increases of 12.5 per cent in business from small enterprises, he said.

Mr Duffy added that small businesses "provide about half the gross domestic product of the UK and there's nearly five million of them … they're what drives the economy."

According to Ofcom, the amount of consumers using VoIP rose to 20 per cent in 2006, up from 14 per cent in 2005.