Korea's VoIP market to grow sharply on household adoption: report

The Korean Overseas Information Service is reporting that Korean VoIP market is forecasted to grow over 50 percent per year over the next five years, per an IDC Korea report.

Korean market for internet-based telephony (VoIP) is expected to grow over 50 percent annually over the next five years as an increasing number of households and businesses replace their traditional service with the new and cheaper way of making calls, a report showed Thursday (Jan. 17).

According to the report by industry consulting firm, IDC Korea, the local market for Internet calls, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), will likely expand by an annual average of 53 percent between 2007 and 2011 to 1.42 trillion won ($1.5 billion).

The report put the local VoIP market last year at an estimated 255.2 billion won, up 52.2 percent from a year earlier.

"Until now, the VoIP market here has grown as businesses moved fast to adopt the new telephony service. As more households are expected to follow suit, its size will likely grow at a faster pace down the road," an IDC Korea official said.

The report added that the government’s plan to introduce the "number portability" system this year will add to the growth momentum as potential users will not have to worry about changing their long-held numbers in subscribing to Internet telephony.

VoIP provides lower charges than traditional telephony services.

Especially for those subscribing to the same operator, customers can receive a sharp discount. However, due to service unreliability and lack of awareness, many households have been reluctant to switch to the VoIP service, experts say.
KOIS
tag: VoIP, VoIP business, voip market, Korean VoIP, KOIS, IDC Korea