Cable telephony subscriber growth continues to be strong, with almost 8 million new subscribers added around the world over the past 12 months, reports In-Stat. Growth in North America has been particularly strong, as cable operators near the end of their transition to VoIP-enabled network architectures, the high-tech market research firm says.

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• Worldwide cable telephony service revenues are on track to reach $12.6 billion in 2008, up from $10.7 billion in 2007.
• Total worldwide cable telephony subscribers are projected to reach 37 million by the end of 2008, and rise to over 64 million by 2012.
• In the US, questions remain about whether or not the cable service bundle needs to have a wireless voice component. While wireless service is an integral part of the service bundle in countries like Canada and the United Kingdom, the collapse of the Pivot joint venture in the US has put wireless service on the back burner for most US cable operators.

The research, “34 Million Subscribers: Worldwide Cable Telephony Services Continue to Expand”, covers the worldwide market for cable telephony. It discusses the business case for cable telephony services, discusses the availability of the service, and examines specific network architectures. In addition, it updates leading cable TV operator telephony deployment strategies and presents the results of a US cable telephony subscriber consumer survey. It provides forecasts for worldwide cable telephony subscribers, VoIP cable telephony subscribers, and installed cable telephony lines through 2012. It also forecasts cable telephony service revenues and “Voice-over-Broadband” cable telephony subscribers over the next five years.