The Future of Mobile VoIP

30 November 2007

As Mobile VoIP grows in the coming years, users will get on board via 3G networks provided by cellular handsets rather than over Wi-Fi.

That's the word from research firm Disruptive Analysis, which predicts 3G VoIP will draw more than 250 million users by 2021, as compared to less than 100 million voice users on Wi-Fi.

There will be technological and business hurdles to overcome, but the move to 3G VoIP ultimately is "inevitable," according to Disruptive Analysis's founder Dean Bubley.

In the first place, Wi-Fi simply is not up to the job, Bubley said. "It's fine in certain locations but has problems with continuous coverage indoor/outdoor," he noted. Moreover, "most Wi-Fi is not carrier-controlled—especially in enterprise—which means a whole raft of separate login procedures, or security configurations."