VoIP solutions to be heavily discounted in future

VoIP solutions will be so heavily discounted in the future that they will offer little revenue for providers, but new IP-based communications technologies will, according to a report.

A study by Insight Research has found that VoIP solutions will probably be bundled with other offers and will be available so cheaply as to be basically free.

However, new IP-based services will potentially create over $700 billion for both mobile and fixed-line phone companies in the next five years.

Mobile companies will be able to offer presence-based and location-based services, while fixed-line and wireless providers will generate income from video telephony, streaming services, as well as file sharing and download services.

"These new IP-enabled services are the first tangible fruits of next-generation networking," said Robert Rosenberg from Insight Research.

He continued: "And while our six IP services represent only 2.5 per cent and 8.5 per cent of global telecommunications services revenues forecasted in 2008 and 2013 respectively, they indicate the direction of future revenue growth as voice revenue declines.

"These six IP services together will generate about eight and a half times that of basic VoIP services by 2013."