10.6 mln VOIP users in the US

Fact recorded on: April 14, 2007. Categories: VOIP.

More than 10.6 mln US households now have at least one active VoIP user, up from approximately 9 mln households at the end of Q3 2006. The emergence of the cable operators as a dominant market force seems to have slowed the growth of the client-based VoIP market, with only Skype showing gains in this segment during Q4 2006. More than 61% of active residential VoIP users reported that they had discontinued or replaced a traditional (non-VoIP) phone service when they got their VoIP service, including a whopping 76% of those who use only a network/ATA-based service like those offered by the cable companies or Vonage, In-Stat says.

Skype’s dominance of the client-based VoIP market has grown as its
major competitors in this segment lost active users during Q4 2006 while it continued to show strong growth. The ability to bypass international tolls continues to be a big driver of client-based VoIP services, with users of client-based VoIP services reporting that 52% of their VoIP calls are international long distance while network/ATA-based VoIP users report only 6% of their calls are international long distance. The share of residential VoIP users who report that they use their service for business calls either in part or exclusively continues to rise with 51% reporting that they use the service for both business and personal calls and 4% reporting they use it exclusively for business calls.

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