Ovum reveals telcos to lose US$386 Billion due to OTT VoIP Services

New forecasts from Ovum have indicated that telecoms operators will lose US$386 billion between 2012 and 2018 from customers using over-the-top (OTT) VoIP solutions such as Skype and Microsoft Lync. These losses will mostly come from international call revenues, including roaming.

In the new forecasts, the global analyst firm reveals that the consumer OTT VoIP market is thriving, with traffic expected to grow by a CAGR of 20 per cent between 2012 and 2018, and to reach 1.7 trillion minutes in 2018. This growth is being driven by improvements in the availability and speed of broadband networks; the growing sophistication, affordability and capability of smartphones and computers; and the rise of social media.

Emeka Obiodu, Principal Analyst, Ovum, said, “Unfortunately, telcos must learn to live with this reality. The use of VoIP will grow increasingly over the next five years to become the underlying technology for delivering voice over telecoms infrastructure. Blocking these services, entering into alliances, or trying to out-compete OTT players using services such as Joyn, are not going to stem the OTT VoIP tide. Instead, we encourage telcos to neutralize the price arbitrage that makes OTT VoIP services appealing.”

Ovum expects telcos to lose US$63 billion in voice revenues in 2018 as customers use free OTT VoIP solutions.