In the coming years, a majority of UKs population is expected to dispose off their traditional landline phones in favour of broadband telephony which offers cheap calls. Broadband telephony is gaining popularity as consumers are becoming increasingly aware of this technology. Analysts Gartner say that by 2009, 70% of voice calls will be wireless as a result of slashing mobile prices. Since Internet telephony does not work with dial-up Internet access, you may see more people switch from dial-up to broadband Internet access as its popularity increases. The cost of handsets may fall down to 14 by 2010. The companies providing software for broadband telephony via PC are also gaining popularity among consumers but it is predicted that in due course, VoIP-enabled telephones will win out. Although lots of people have downloaded the software for broadband telephony, but not all of them use it. The conventional telephone companies are affected by the growing popularity of broadband telephony in both a good and bad way. Although they are adopting this technology, the lower prices of VOIP do not mean that they will gain the same amount of revenue as they did from their traditional telephone services in the past. It has been estimated that there will be three billion mobile subscribers in the world by 2010. Fixed line operators are now incorporating wireless with their traditional phone services providing ease of having one device and one bill for both mobile and fixed line calls. But the constant slashing of VOIP prices will discourage people to continue with their landlines alone. People are expected to use mobile phones instead of landlines if the mobile prices continue to fall. |
