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11th August 2004 - As Voice over IP (VoIP) continues
to work its way into the corporate environment, IP Centrex/Hosted
PBX promises to help meet this growing demand for Internet-based
telephony, reports In-Stat/MDR (http://www.instat.com).
IP Centrex/Hosted PBX offers cost savings, enhanced
voice features, and ease of service management. As a
result, the high-tech market research firm forecasts
strong growth, about 100% year-over-year, for IP Centrex/Hosted
PBX through 2008. Much of this growth will come from
Tier 1 providers entering the market.
A network hosted voice application, IP Centrex/Hosted
PBX provides, at a minimum, business users with local
dial tone, long distance, and voice features similar
to that of an IP PBX. Originally only small Tier 2 and
Tier 3 service providers sold the service in the US,
but more Tier 1 players are starting to offer the service.
Most service installations are for 40-60 users per site,
but providers are reporting an upward trend in this
number.
However, overall service revenues, while forecast to
have strong growth, remain just a fraction of other
competing voice solutions, such as IP PBX. This comes
from businesses' current reluctance to change their
habit of investing in LAN-based voice-switching solutions
as opposed to hosted applications.
In-Stat/MDR has also found that:
- At the end of 2003, service providers had approximately
40,200 IP Centrex/Hosted PBX seats in service in the
US. Covad (GoBeam) had the largest market share with
32% of the market.
- The RBOCs' entrance into this market will greatly
accelerate overall growth. Both SBC and Qwest launched
their service offering in 2004. In-Stat/MDR expects
to see the other two US RBOCs enter the market as
well.
- The current, average monthly service for IP Centrex/Hosted
PBX is $65, with $20 going towards Internet access
and $45 for the voice application. The estimated,
average service installation fee is $175 per seat.
In-Stat/MDR believes that these prices will remain
relative consistent during the forecasted period as
a result of the overall competitive nature of the
IP Centrex/Hosted PBX market.
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