By 2012 over half of mobile VoIP users will reside in North America and Europe. A new study from Juniper Research has found that Mobile VoIP services will develop significantly faster in developed markets due to the direct correlation between 3G roll outs and the take up of mobile VoIP. This is the case even though mVoIP traffic volumes may eventually be higher in developing markets due in part to the calling patterns of migrant workers, according to the study Mobile Voice Strategies: mVoIP Opportunities & Business Models, 2010-2015.

“By 2012 we expect significant uptake of mobile VoIP in its various different flavours”, says Anthony Cox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research. “By that date mobile VoIP will be available over both 3G and WiFi networks. We also anticipate that several more traditional operators will have joined 3UK and Verizon in the US and developed relationships with mobile VoIP players such as Skype,” he says.

Further findings include:

• Alliances between mobile VoIP players and traditional operators may provide the best option for today’s incumbent operators to address the advent of mobile VoIP.
• Revenues from the circuit switched voice market will continue to diminish over the next five years, although this will not accelerate.
• A high percentage of Mobile VoIP carried over applications will be via WiFi networks, bypassing operators’ networks altogether. Such traffic will result in some lost revenues, amounting to around $5bn by 2015.

The Mobile Voice report includes an in-depth analysis of the current state of play of the mobile Voice market considering the position of both the incumbent operator and the mobile VoIP new entrant. The report contains five year forecasts for the number of Mobile VoIP Users over 3G networks, the number of mobile VoIP users via alliances, number of mobile VoIP users via applications, number of 4G mobile VoIP users. It also contains the value of traffic associated with all of these categories.