Mobile VoIP waits for service upgrade

Although analysts predict that voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is set to gain extra mobility in the future, it has been suggested that full mobile IP telephony solutions are waiting for 4G networks.

Panellists at the NetEvents summit in Malta claimed that there remain barriers to full scale adoption of mobile VoIP which would only likely be overcome by next-generation mobile networks.

According to technology website The Register, the programme manager of networking and infrastructure at analysts IDC, Emir Halilovic, said that, for now, VoIP is mainly a fixed-line service.

"Mobile applications are a very, very small slice of that whole market.

"Still, there is a great promise in both [mobile VoIP and multi-media] because the ecosystem elements are all there, although it's still not fully functional," he is reported to have said.

Using 3G networks could in theory provide VoIP service with the wide range of a mobile phone, but such technology is in competition with the faster speeds of Wi-Fi broadband connections.

However, wireless internet has its own drawbacks, such as not being able to spread into a building from outside - so it was suggested that the upcoming mobile phone networks will be "designed for VoIP" and boost wireless use of IP telephony.