Take up of IP telephony solutions in Europe is expected to continue apace, particularly in central and eastern areas, according to new report from Business Monitor International (BMI).
The BMI report claims that over the last ten years or so, IP telephony take-up in Europe has already led to a ‘massive transformation’ of business phone systems and telecommunication provision in general.
The report argues that there is now pressure to significantly extend broadband capacity across Europe, particularly within those areas in Central and Eastern Europe where penetration is currently relatively underdeveloped. BMI says that this in turn will inevitably lead to increased IP telephony take-up in these areas.
BMI in fact goes further by arguing that the cost savings associated with IP telephony will be one of the main driving forces behind increased broadband development in Europe.
IP telephony – which stands for internet protocol telephony – is a technology whereby internet connections are used to carry voice and data information normally transmitted via conventional telephone lines.
As the report states, one of the main attractions of IP telephony services is that telephony applications become much cheaper. This is down to businesses no longer needing to pay the expensive tariffs charged by conventional telephone companies.
Currently, voice calls are the main function exploited through IP telephony; whether through the installation of an in-house business VoIP (voice over internet protocol) system; or remotely via either a VoIP reseller or a business VoIP provider. Industry commentators claim however that it will not be too long before VoIP is used for more complex communications applications such as video conferencing.
BMI predicts that this eagerness to embrace VoIP among European enterprises will contribute towards an estimated doubling of broadband connections in Central and Eastern Europe to a total of 115 million by 2015.
