ALMOST EIGHT MILLION new cable telephony subscribers have been added around the world over the past 12 months, reports high tech market research company In-Stat.
Growth in North America has been particularly strong, as cable operators near the end of their transition to voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP)-enabled network architectures, added the company release, which said that there will likely be over 37 million cable telephone subs by the end of this calendar year.
"Current priorities for cable telephony service providers are expanding the availability of their service and attracting business end-users, especially small and medium-sized businesses," said Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst, in the release.
The report also found:
* 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 U.S., 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 (with Sprint and several major American MSOs) in the U.S. has put wireless service on the back burner for most U.S. cable operators.
