VoIP spending on the up

The amount invested by firms on voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology has soared over the last twelve months, according to a new study.

Research by iLocus suggests that there was a 35 per cent rise in overall VoIP traffic last year, while the number of VoIP access server licenses sold globally increased by 67 per cent.

The study claims that VoIP carriers are being forced to continue investing in order to keep up to date with technological advances and remain competitive in an increasingly crowded market.

The report states: "They have little choice, it seems. Due to the losses in landlines, wireline operators are expanding into mobile and mobile operators on the other hand are looking to leverage fixed broadband networks for voice offload or over-the-top services."

There are currently around 450,000 paying mobile VoIP subscribers worldwide. This is predicted to reach 2.4 million by the end of the year, before rising to 26.6 million in 2012.