Infonetics Research has released the Q4 2008 edition of its Service Provider VoIP Equipment and Subscribers report.

 

And the news is not good.

 

According to Infonetics' Diane Myers, Directing Analyst, Service Provider VoIP and IMS:

"The fourth quarter of 2008 confirmed what we started seeing in the previous two quarters in North America, with signs in Western Europe and some parts of Asia as well: the market for carrier VoIP equipment has stalled due to large deployments nearing completion and shifting strategic priorities. The global economic downturn will likely exacerbate the drop in VoIP equipment sales."

 

According to the report, the streak of double-digit annual revenue growth, which has characterized the worldwide carrier VoIP equipment market since 2002, has come to a close.

 

In fact, the market declined for the first time ever in 2008, dropping 6%.

 

According to Infonetics, large RBOCs and ILECs are putting the brakes on VoIP as major projects are (or have been) completed. Furthermore, the economic downturn is forcing operators to move their capital expenditures to other strategic priorities.

 

There were some bright spots in the report. On the plus side, the Infonetics research bears out the following:

 

·         The number of residential and SOHO VoIP subscribers worldwide increased at a steady clip, topping 107 million in 2008, driven mostly by EMEA and Asia Pacific;

·         Nortel increased softswitch and trunk media gateway revenue, gaining share in both categories;

·         Sonus increased its trunk media gateway revenue 45% in 4Q08 from 3Q08.