Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has proven to be the key market enabler for cable telephony services and subscriber growth, reports In-Stat. Generally less expensive to provision than more traditional circuit-switched telephony, the increasing availability of VoIP services in North America was directly responsible for an almost two-fold increase in the number of North American subscribers during 2006, the high-tech market research firm says.

"In a growing number of markets around the world, cable TV operators consider telephony service to be an integral part of their telecommunications service bundle," says Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. "This has led to increasing service availability in North America, Europe, and in a few countries in Asia."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• Worldwide cable telephony subscribers increased to over 22 million in 2006, up sharply from 15.8 million in 2005.
• Cable telephony service revenues are also growing at a rapid pace and are projected to reach $10.4 billion in 2007, up from $7.9 billion in 2006. North America will account for two-thirds of the worldwide service revenues in 2007.
• In a few countries, the number of VoIP-based cable telephony subscribers has already exceeded the number of circuit-switched cable telephony subscribers. One of these countries is the US, where there are over 6.6 million VoIP subscribers and just 2.8 million circuit-switched subscribers.
• Cable telephony's growth spurt in the US market has been a relatively recent phenomenon. According to a US consumer survey, forty-two percent of all US cable telephony subscribers signed up for the service during the past 12 months.

The research, "The Worldwide Market for Cable Telephony Services", covers the market for cable telephony services around the world. For more information on this research or to purchase it online, please visit: http://email.in-stat.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/e6s60HWMdu0K560EF1N0AB