17 August 2006

Twenty-four million people worldwide pay to use retail voice over IP (VoIP) services, new research has shown.

The number of retail VoIP subscribers jumped more than 80 per cent to 18.7 million during 2005 - or 24 million if you add users of PC-to-phone services such as Skype, according to Point Topic's IP Telephony report.

Based on reported revenues, the analyst estimates that one-sixth of VoIP subscribers used Skype in the fourth quarter of 2005.