One of the most important developments in the telecoms industry in recent times has been the development of mobile VoIP technology. Although still relatively early days for the mobile VoIP companies such as Truphone, it certainly seems they have the capacity to mix things up in the telecoms industry. Some of the recent longer established mobile operators’ actions seem proof of this with T-Mobile recently being forced to allow the use of Truphone over its network, having previously blocked calls to Truphone allocated numbers.
While some industry commentators suggest that as VoIP prices fall towards zero, this is making it a increasingly hard industry to make any substantial profit in; the wider availability of cut cost ultra fast broadband and has resulted in a huge increase in the availability of free Wi-Fi. Consequently this is making mobile VoIP operators an increasingly attractive offer for consumers. The trend in the availability of new ’smart phones’ with the ability to run mobile VoIP client software, at ever falling prices is also, it could be argued, creating a situation where mobile VoIP could really take off.
We have recently seen T-Mobile announce their VoIP service called @home giving customers the option of paying a single low monthly flat rate. However whilst the industry is finding customers uncomfortable about getting rid of their fixed phone line completely, mobile VoIP companies have no such obstacle to contend with. The seamless integration of mobile VoIP software into the functionality of mobile phones, as well as the reduced cost of unlimited data phone packages has resulted in a predictably rapid growth in the mobile VoIP industry.
At present it has been reported that there are 4 million VoIP customers in the United Kingdom, and this looks set to increase steadily. How established mobile phone operators will take advantage of this growth is still unclear but the decision to force T Mobile to allow calls to Truphone subscribers surely gives a clear sign that rather than try and resist the mobile VoIP operators, the incumbent industry monoliths must find a way of embracing them.
One problem which could have an influence on the take-up of mobile Voice over IP is security, with many highly publicized stories highlighting the problems in making calls using VoIP. Another issue to to confront is ‘VoIP phishing’ where people are convinced to part with their personal data of their own free will after falling for a thief’s lure. This is also indicative of other VoIP security problems where unscrupulous would be thieves can tamper with the caller ID making it look as though they are ringing from popular financial institutions. Once such problems have been resolved and fears allayed it is likely that mobile VoIP will become will become much more integral to peoples lives as people take the opportunity to turn their mobiles into VoIP phones.