July 05, 2006
VoIP Deployment Takes Off In Asia and Africa
While VoIP is a technology that is beneficial to people worldwide, it's deployment appears to be gaining the greatest growth in Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African countries.
These are countries typically associated with average incomes that are much lower than those of European or North American countries. With the reduced cost of telephony provided by VoIP systems, it's not surprising that several countries in these regions have made deployment of IP telephony a priority.
In fact, Avaya's survey of decision makers in the Middle East and North African countries shows that over 70% have plans to deploy IP telephony. Some already have converged voice and data networks.
The financial benefits are realized not only in initial implementation of IP telephony, but also in the ease and cost of being able to later add VoIP applications. The drawback for telephony solutions providers based in English-speaking countries is that there is a need for other-language solutions, which could conceivably increase project costs.
While VoIP deployment in Africa and the Middle East is strong, it is growing rapidly in Asia-Pacific countries in particular, surpassing most other regions in the world, with a 60+% increase in VoIP equipment purchases.
A primary cost benefit of deploying IP Telephony comes from regions where telephone lines or cellular networks are currently at a minimum. Instead of the cost of having to install separate voice and data networks, the convergence afforded by IP telephony results in an overall savings.
Sources: VoIP News; Avaya - South Africa, Middle East + North Africa; Mena Report [via VoIPendium]
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