VoIP to save fixed line telcos billions

While VoIP is most often painted as a threat to mobile operators - snatching away vital voice revenues from mobile operators and fixed line firms alike - new research has found that VoIP might yet prove a help rather than a hindrance to the telcos.

A report from research firm Analysys predicts that voice revenues will fall steadily - between six and 10 per cent per year - across the board as 3G operators try to lure customers with cheap and plentiful voice bundles.

However, switching to VoIP could well help recoup some of the losses, the report says, with features including fixed-mobile convergence and presence functionality helping to trim the fall from six per cent to four per cent, which could represent a saving for a big Western European operator of up to €23bn.

According to analysts estimates, BT's plans to implement VoIP across the network could save 43 per cent on the operating expenditure of its voice network and deployment of broadband.