Future Development -- Very Imperssive Both the VoIP and Instant Messaging sectors are projected to enjoy exponential growth over the next few years as consumer demand for innovative and easy-to-use integrated communications on multiple devices remain extremely high.
Mobile VoIP Minute Growth Is Forecast to Grow From 15 Billion → 470 Billion in 5 Years
The Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offered to consumers is largely offered over the Public Switched Telephone network (PSTN) and cable infrastructures but can also be provided wirelessly or by satellite or power lines. Several market research firms forecast that the VOIP sector increasingly higher growth and estimates and utilization rates over the next several years. For example, the compound annual growth rate in the entire VoIP industry was 16.7% between 2007 and 2012 reaching a market size of $15.4 billion. However, according to the consulting firm Visiongain, mobile VoIP applications alone are expected to reach $36 billion by 2016, with the number of users rising to 180 million.
Additionally, the number of mobile VoIP users throughout the world is expected to reach close to 170 million by 2015, according to research from IDATE Consulting & Research. Juniper Research forecasts worldwide mobile VoIP application minutes via 3G growth from just over 343 million minutes in 2010 to 30 billion in 2015, and mobile VoIP minutes carried on 3G and 4G networks will increase from 15 billion in 2010 to a whopping 470 billion in 2015.
The Instant Messaging (IM) market is also growing at a rapid pace and will continue to expand over the next few years according to leading market research firms. Globally, IM accounts are estimated to grow from 2.4 billion in 2010 to over 3.5 billion in 2014 at an average CAGR of 10% according to the Radicati Group. Figure 1 below from Juniper Research indicates that the number of instant messages from 2012 will double by 2017 going from 14.7 trillion to 28.2 trillion.