Dual-Mode Phones Will Drive 2009 VoIP Chip Sales, Says In-Stat
Written by Robert Poe
Tuesday, 22 November 2005
By 2009, IP phones will represent the largest market for VoIP chips, according to a new In-Stat report. And the biggest driver of IP phone sales will be dual-mode cellular-Wi-Fi handsets.
The report, titled VoIP ICs – Building a Foundation for the Future, projects that the overall market for VoIP chips will increase from $208.7 million last year to $1.3 billion in 2009. During the five-year period, wireline and wireless IP phones will move from being the smallest to the largest source of VoIP chip revenues.
In-Stat director Norm Bogen says that consumers using dual-mode handsets with their home Wi-Fi setups will be the biggest source of IP telephone growth, because there is more WLAN equipment shipping into residences than into enterprises.
However, enterprise users will be necessary to provide the initial impetus, he states. Until production volume rises far enough to bring the prices of Wi-Fi-capable handsets down, only corporations and other organizations will be able to afford them. (See Qualcomm Helps Cellular and Wi-Fi Voice Harmonize.)
Bogen believes the big ramp-up of cellular-Wi-Fi handsets will come in 2007. He notes that the initiative to offer dual-mode services will often come from cable operators' tying up with cellular carriers in order to become their own virtual mobile network operators (MVNOs). (See Sprint and Cable Companies Bring the Quad Play Closer.) In other cases, he says, cellular carriers may take the initiative by cutting deals with consumer VoIP providers.
The report also notes that the realities of the retail IP telephony market are keeping revenues from sales of VoIP ICs for infrastructure gear down. The pressure to hold down costs starts at the service provider level, and then filters down to equipment manufacturers and then chip makers, it says.
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