VoIP in India Phone Market

By Preeti Doval

The VoIP phone market is growing at a phenomenal rate globally and the India phone market could not be left far behind. VoIP is picking up in the India phone market and it is expected to be the second largest market in the APAC after China. Looking at the numerous advantages that this technology offers this trend was certainly expected. The huge cost savings and the feature rich communication solution that this technology offers cannot be matched by traditional telephony.

As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), approximately 160 million minutes of VoIP communication took place from June 04 to July 05 as compared to approximately 84 million minutes over the same period in the previous year. This growth rate is expected to speed up further in the coming years.

Growth of VoIP in the India phone market can be attributed to a large number of factors. Cheap and easy availability of broadband connections is one of the major factors that is driving this growth.

Today all major telecom operators in India are offering broadband connections at affordable rates thus empowering the user with high-speed Internet connections and favoring VoIP usage. According to the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI), there were 5.9 million Internet subscribers and 3.9 lakh broadband connections, as on June 2005. The revenues from the Internet and Internet Telephony services for the first quarter in financial year 2005-06 amounted to approximately Rs 550 crore.

Another important factor is PC penetration, which has grown tremendously over the last decade in the country. Moreover, user awareness and acceptance has led to increased usage of VoIP.

The individual market in India is still gearing up but many of the large enterprises have already migrated to VoIP to make long distance calls and for internal communications.

Though VoIP usage is growing in the India phone market but a major factor that has restricted its growth is that use of this technology is still not fully legalized in India. VoIP in India is allowed for PC in India to a phone abroad, PC to PC anywhere and a SIP/H.323 device to a similar device in India or abroad. This means that the call cannot terminate at a normal phone within the country.

These restrictions have been imposed to protect the interests of International and National Long Distance operators who have paid huge license fees and continue to pay for their services.
Currently organizations like ISPAI are seeking unrestricted telephony access that would allow users to make calls from both mobile and landline numbers. Industry experts also feel that in rural areas, where laying cable is not possible, technology like Wi-Max should be allowed and ISPs should be given the flexibility to offer these services.

Once the government removes these restrictions and legalizes VoIP fully in India, the India phone market will undergo a major change. The service providers will be able to capitalize on the tremendous potential available in the country. The users and the industry will rejoice and reap the benefits of this new technology.

Copyright 2005 Bart Bartolozzi
About The Author :
Bart Bartolozzi is a strategic VoIP consultant with Blueskyphone and an expert on VoIP technology with over 15 years experience coordinating the development and marketing of new telecom and IT services and solutions. Mr. Bartolozzi has been dedicated to the development of the Voice over IP industry since its inception and has been responsible for expanding the use of IP technology for international arbitrage, PBX replacement, call center applications, and voice enhanced services for carriers, retail consumers and enterprise customers.
bart@eztelusa.com Article Source: http://www.blueskyphone.com