Sweden enjoys VoIP growth

Swedish industry regulators have reported a substantial growth in the number of VoIP users in the country in 2006.

With idyllic valleys and mountain ranges often a barrier to easy travel or hardline communications across the country, users have begun to embrace VoIP - creating an impressive 87 per cent growth in subscribers last year.

This put the total number of Swedish users at 410,000, up from 219,500 at the end of 2005, according to the annual report from the National Post and Telecom Agency.

With the population of Sweden estimated by the US Central Intelligence Agency at just over nine million, this puts the percentage of the country using VoIP at 4.5 per cent.

The impact of VoIP services was also seen in the figures reported for the traditional fixed line network in the country.

Although subscriptions to these lines only saw a one per cent in 2006 to 5.5 million, the regulator's figures showed Sweden's telecoms companies took a hit in their revenue from calls, with earnings dropping 11 per cent from the year before.

This fall, equivalent to a loss of £1.8 billion over the year, could be linked with the growth in VoIP subscriptions, as well as an increase in mobile phone use.