VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol first began rising in popularity in the 1990s. Today, it’s one of the most essential tools in any company’s communication stack.
Offering an essential level of flexibility for those in search of scalable global communications, VoIP has become the go-to telephony solution for the majority of brands. As of 2023, the market size for VoIP in the US was approximately $17 billion.
Globally, the market for VoIP technology is expected to reach around $102.5 billion by 2026. Today’s selection of VoIP statistics offers insight into the rapidly growing nature of VoIP and the importance of this market technology.
(Research and Markets)
The Research and Markets report for Global VoIP growth between 2021 and 2026 indicates VoIP services should grow to a value of $102.5 billion by 2026. From a value of approximately $85.2 billion in 2021, this represents a CAGR of around 3.8%.
Research and Markets notes despite the havoc and chaos caused by the pandemic for other industries, the VoIP sector has benefitted from a significant shift into the cloud.
(Grand View Research)
The market for mobile VoIP could be even more significant than the VoIP landscape in general. According to Grand View Research, the deployment of 4G/LTE, and the rising demand for 5G is driving industry growth in this sector. By 2024, the industry could reach a value of $145.76 billion.
If the mobile VoIP market reaches its projected value by 2024, this will represent a CAGR of 20% between the years 2016 and 2024. Grand View Research notes Asia Pacific will be the fastest-growing region during this time.
(Persistence Market Research)
According to research by Persistence Market, VoIP growth is largely powered by low maintenance requirements and minimal set-up costs. Many companies making the transition into the VoIP landscape are doing so with access to services that allow them to simplify their migration.
The VoIP services market, which focuses on the delivery of services related to the VoIP industry, including provisioning and management, is set to reach a value of $194.5 billion by 2024. According to Persistence, “managed IP” services will be the most common service.
(Markets and Markets)
The use of hosted PBX solutions is expected to accelerate significantly with the rise of the VoIP market. According to Markets and Markets, Hosted PBX technology will reach a value of around $9.5 billion by 2023, an increase from $4.19 billion as of 2018, representing a CAGR of 14.9%.
According to Startupanz.com, the hosted PBX market will be one of the fastest-growing spaces in the industry, achieving around a 15% CAGR in the years through 2025.
(Global Market Insights)
Global Market Insights notes several changes are on the horizon for the VoIP market. By 2025, the International VoIP calls market is set to hold around 50% of the market share, with more companies looking for global communications. Fixed VoIP is also predicted to hold a market share of 55%, as enterprises look for ways to prioritize security.
According to the report, North America will dominate the VoIP market in 2025, with a geographical market share of over 40%. The rapid adoption of cloud services, advanced access to telecommunications infrastructure, and rising workforce mobility is set to encourage growth.
(Mordor Intelligence)
Cloud technology, including VoIP solutions for communications, is growing at an exceptional rate, particularly during the pandemic period. According to Mordor Intelligence, the telecoms cloud market was valued at around $25.33 billion in 2020, but it’s expected to reach a value of $74.36 billion by 2026. This represents a CAGR of 19.9%.
Mordor Intelligence notes there are a number of factors that could disrupt the growth of cloud-based telecoms, however, including cyber security threats.
(Buffer)
The rise of remote and hybrid work stands as one of the most significant factors encouraging a shift to VoIP and cloud communications. According to Buffer, around 30% of respondents are now working for an organization where remote work is the norm for 100% of employees.
Around 43% of employees said part of their team is now full-time remote, and part of the team works in the office. 15% of the employees surveyed said they work for a company where they can work from home as needed.
(Microsoft)
Even without the demands of remote work to consider, Microsoft found 82% of companies report cost savings when moving to the cloud. The same report also found around 92% of small businesses achieved better security results by moving to the cloud, and 59% of small businesses achieved productivity benefits from a shift to the cloud.
(IDC)
During the Pandemic, IDC discovered rapid growth in all forms of unified communications and collaboration tools, including the rise of VoIP adoption. According to IDC, the revenue for the industry grew by around 24.9% during the course of the year.
Hosted voice and UC public cloud connectivity grew 26.1% year-over-year in 2020, and public UCaaS revenue increased by 2.12%. Revenue for IP phones also declined by around 20.4% year-over-year, indicating a rising demand for software over hardware.
(Telzio)
According to internal surveys conducted by Telzio, the average company will save between 30-50% on their communication costs by switching to VoIP. There are many potential reasons for this cost saving, including the fact that VoIP uses the internet to make and receive phone calls, as opposed to handlines, which require wiring on-premises.
Setting up an on-premises phone system will usually cost an average of $20,000, while a VoIP system’s set-up costs can be zero. Another reason for cost savings is the ability to bundle users into pay-as-you-go VoIP plans based on minutes rather than users.
(UC Laymen’s Guide)
While cost savings are a major consideration for many companies making the transition to VoIP, there are other benefits to adopting Voice over Internet Protocol too. For instance, the UC Laymen’s Guide suggests when a business moves to a VoIP system from a landline, it can save an average of 32 call minutes per day.
Often, cloud-based solutions make it easier for companies to connect their team members and ensure rapid operations.
(Spend Edge)
While the cost savings of VoIP can be significant, and the expected growth rate of a system can be as high as 10.40% according to Spend Edge, the risk of heavy increases to VoIP prices is low. Spend Edge’s study found within a period of five years (2019 to 2024), the cost of VoIP was projected to increase by only 3% in total.
(GetVoIP)
An evaluation of multiple studies by GetVoIP revealed communicating over the internet instead of using a traditional PSTN phone system could deliver several cost savings. Customers could achieve up to 90% reductions in the costs of international calls, and 90% reductions in startup communication costs.
The surveys also revealed VoIP can lower the cost of local and long-distance phone calls by 40%, and the cost of teleconferencing by 30%, when video and voice capabilities were available.
(McKinsey)
One of the most significant benefits of VoIP and cloud-based technologies is their ability to improve the customer service experience for today’s users. VoIP is a critical part of all omnichannel interactions, which allows companies to serve channels on various channels, without having to drop quality from one environment to the next.
According to McKinsey, most customers will consult with three to five different service channels when resolving a problem. Around 86% of these customers say they expect to be able to shift between customer service channels harmoniously.
(Fortune Business Insights)
VoIP is one of the major technologies paving the way for the rise of Unified Communications as a Service – a unified approach to communication delivered over the cloud. In 2020, the market value for UCaaS was approximately $25.85 billion according to Fortune Business Insights. By 2028, this market is set to reach a value of around $69.93 billion.
Aside from wider access to VoIP technology, some of the other factors influencing the rising adoption of UCaaS include the introduction of APIs and CPaaS platforms.
(Servion Solutions)
According to a report from Servion Solutions, AI systems will handle around 95% of all customer interactions by 2025. As VoIP continues to emerge as a powerful tool for managing global customer service, companies will need to be prepared for the rise of AI in their VoIP and unified communication systems.
Chatbots, virtual assistants, and intelligent IVR solutions are some of the most common AI-related tools being connected with VoIP systems in 2023.
(Nextiva)
According to reports from Nextiva, the use of VoIP applications for smartphones is likely to be on the rise in the years ahead, as more employees rely on their smartphone devices to connect with colleagues and consumers in the workplace.
The number of people using mobile phones to communicate at work has increased significantly in recent years, with around 87% of users accessing their mobile phones at least once per week at work. Around 59% of respondents in the survey also said they use an average of 3 devices at work.
(Dialpad)
Companies aren’t just accessing their VoIP solutions for voice communications anymore. VoIP also has the power to transfer other kinds of content over the internet, including video. According to Dialpad, around 83.13% of respondents spend a third of their week in meetings.
Unfortunately, some companies are still concerned they’re not getting their audio solutions right for video conferencing, with 50% of respondents saying audio issues are their biggest problems in meetings.
(Nuance Technology)
As AI aligned with VoIP technology becomes more common, many businesses are beginning to experiment with AI as a tool for protecting against call fraud. Around 85% of Fortune 500 companies are using anti-fraud AI measures to protect their users today.
Experts predict the number of advanced technologies used to protect VoIP lines will increase going forward, as regulations and new compliance standards are implemented worldwide.
VoIP is rapidly emerging as an essential component in any communication stack, often referred to as part of the “UC” or Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) bundle. As communications in the business landscape grow increasingly complex, VoIP is a table-stakes solution for ensuring business leaders can connect teams and colleagues to customers wherever they are.