3G Mobile VoIP in Slow Lane
3G Mobile VoIP in Slow Lane
14th October , 2009
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Europe : Mobile VoIP ( voice over internet protocol ) in the European telecoms market is not likely to hit mass market adoption any time soon. This is the findings of Fitch Ratings but they point out that as 3G network voice and data speeds continue to improve then Mobile VoIP could well affect the high earning voice roaming and international calls market which make good revenues for 3G mobile operators. Above shows an illustration of how Mobile VoIP works.
Mobile VoIP presents 3G mobile phone users with large cost savings. Fitch Ratings has calculated that, on average, one minute of a Mobile VoIP voice call via a 3G network is about 15 times less than the cost of a normal 3G mobile phone call.
3G mobile broadband has created a new opportunity for Mobile VoIP with an ever increasing subscriber base. In fact it is now calculated that a quarter of on-line internet users do access the 3G mobile internet via their mobile phones. But, the majority of European 3G mobile operators have not permitted Mobile VoIP to be operated over their 3G networks.
However, regulatory scrutiny is increasing, and mirroring recent developments in the United States, the agency believes that the number of mobile operators in Europe allowing VoIP on their 3G networks is likely to increase within the next three years.
As with fixed line VoIP, Fitch expects there will good demand for mobile VoIP which is likely to be used by consumers for low cost international calling and to bypass international roaming charges while traveling. Nonetheless, there are several factors holding back the adoption of mobile VoIP over 3G. Network quality remains a problem.
The 3G coverage required for VoIP remains patchy, and upload speeds are poor. More importantly, latency, the delay before the network delivers a packet of data, is roughly around 150-200ms or higher depending on network loading and signal strength. To place a good quality mobile VoIP call, latency should be below 100ms. Network quality and latency issues should be resolved as HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) handsets become more common and operators upgrade their networks, however, this will take time. Most current mobile VoIP applications are not easy to install and use on a mobile handset. As they are not supported by operators, they are usually not integrated with a handset and network functionality.
In the longer-term, mobile operators are likely to offer VoIP services themselves. This is likely to be part of the evolution of mobile networks when LTE networks (networks using the next technology standard after 3G) are deployed, possibly after 2012. When this happens, the cost of transporting voice calls should fall significantly. Mobile operators would essentially offer the same service as current mobile VoIP players, but with the benefit of greater scale.
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