Backchannelmedia

Business Communications Review

By Anonymous

VOICE-DATA CONVERGENCE Worldwide cable telephony subscribership grew by almost 40 percent last year, and almost doubled in North America, thanks to wider availability of voice over IP (VOIP) services on cable networks, according to market researchers at In- Stat.

"In a growing number of markets around the world, cable TV operators consider telephony service to be an integral part of their telecommunications service bundle," said Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. "This has led to increasing service availability in North America, Europe, and in a few countries in Asia."

In addition to the subscriber growth, revenues are also heading up sharply. In-Stat reports that worldwide revenues will be $10.4 billion this year, up from $7.9 billion last year, with North America generating two-thirds of this year's total.

WW Cable Telephony Subscribers

In-Stat also reports that the number of VOIP-based cable telephony customers in the U.S. is 6.6 million, compared with 2.8 million who remain attached to circuit-switched cable telephony networks.

The information is contained in the report, "The Worldwide Market for Cable Telephony Services."

Copyright CMP Media LLC Jun 2007

(c) 2007 Business Communications Review. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.