German SMEs taking to VoIP, but traditional carriers under threat

New research has revealed a wide interest in VoIP services among German small businesses with 64 per cent of SMEs in the country interested in IP telephony, but traditional carriers could be under threat.

According to Savatar Consulting, which conducted the survey, there are parallels between the current German market and the status of the US market in 2005, when traditional operators subsequently lost their market leadership in VoIP services to non-traditional operators.

Currently, traditional operators lead the German VoIP market with 32 per cent of SMEs regarding them as the main business VoIP provider, compared with only eight per cent favouring non-traditional operators, a similar situation to that found in the US 18 months ago.

However, Savatar said since then several specialised VoIP providers have been aggressively targeting the SME market in the US and now control 23 per cent, compared to just ten per cent for traditional providers.

"Over the past 18 months we've witnessed incumbent US operators be indecisive or make a catalogue of missteps that have allowed non-traditional operators like Vonage and Skype to wrestle away control of the market," said John Macario, president of Savatar Consulting.

"German operators risk repeating exactly the same mistakes and losing their dominance in the market. The key lesson to draw is that German SMEs are interested in VoIP and if you do not proactively promote your IP products to them, they will buy VoIP services from one of the growing number of non-traditional voice providers instead."