The international wholesale voice carrier market for voice and data got a shot in the arm from the pandemic. Here, GM Insights outlines how that continues to play out and picks out some key geographies where things are really booming
The International Wholesale Voice Carrier Market size exceeded $25 billion in 2020 and is poised to register gains of over 10% between 2021 and 2027. The international wholesale voice traffic accounted for around 600 billion minutes in 2020 and is expected to surpass 1 trillion minutes by 2027 at a CAGR of above 10%.
The adoption of wholesale voice and data services with the rising popularity of smart devices and improving 4G cellular infrastructure is likely to boost the industry demand. The proliferation of LTE and the increased popularity of smartphones and tablets is anticipated to trigger a substantial growth of VoIP calling on multiple devices. The extension of these LTE based services to provide similar capabilities when roaming is seen as one of the biggest drivers towards the growth of international wholesale voice carrier services.
The international wholesale voice carrier industry has gained traction in the COVID-19 pandemic as multiple organisations adopted work from home for their employees. With the economic and social disruptions caused by the pandemic, people across the globe are relying on technology for information, monitoring social distancing, and working from home.
Leading telecom players from broadband to voice to data centre operators have benefitted from a surge in traffic of voice and data. As a result, the international wholesale voice carrier sector is performing well as compared to other infrastructure sub-sectors, and has led to nearly 15% year-on-year spike in the volume of calls in 2020.
The UK voice termination segment is predicted to accrue $1 billion in revenue by 2023, as the segment is witnessing an increasing demand for advanced technology-based services such as cloud communication services, and IoT services. The UK telecom industry’s shift to IP has also opened new opportunities for international wholesale voice carrier market players. For instance, in March 2021, Ofcom announced to reduce the call termination rate to 0.379 cent per minute by 2022 from the current cap of 0.468 cent per minute for calls to mobile or landline.
Regional companies are focusing on developing strategic partnerships with major industry participants to expand their international wholesale voice carrier capabilities. The regional market growth will also be impelled by dedicated voice corridors and region wise offers.
The owned transmission network in India held more than 75% of the international wholesale voice carrier market share in 2020 towing to increasing investments from telecom operators to expand their infrastructure and growing demand for fibre optics. Major voice carrier across the region are focusing on the expansion of their telecom infrastructures and investing heavily in upscaling their network backbone.
The Mexican VoIP market
In Mexico, the VoIP segment is set to attain a CAGR of above 15% through 2027. Business enterprises are increasingly relying on VoIP as it helps in improving productivity and reducing operational costs. The increasing adoption of 5G technology, AI integration, and unified mobile communication are providing growth opportunities to the market. Companies are also establishing partnerships with telecom operators to expand their VoIP services globally.
The APAC international wholesale voice carrier market captured a prominent portion with nearly 35% of the revenue share and about 200 billion minutes of international traffic in 2020. The regional industry is characterized by increased smartphone adoption and rising affinity of subscribers towards VoIP calling. For instance, according to GSMA Intelligence’s Mobile Economy Report 2021, in 2020, the mobile phone adoption rate was 68% in APAC region. Considering the adoption of smartphones and increased voice traffic due to current COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for fraud management and voice termination services is estimated to increase significantly.
Innovative solutions to gain competitive edge
International wholesale voice carrier market has witnessed several strategic acquisitions by major vendors to acquire marginal players and strengthen their market presence. For instance, in April 2020, Tofane Global SAS, a leading European telecom services provider, acquired NOS International Carrier Services, an international wholesale voice carrier provider in Portugal. The acquisition amplified Tofane’s footprint in Portuguese-speaking markets, including Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, East Timor, Macau, Sao Tome, and Principe.
The industry also observed several strategic alliances among key industry participants for expanding their portfolios with added functionalities to maintain the revenue share and profitability.
GM Insights is a global market research and management consulting company
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What customers expect from telecoms in 2022
As digital communications proliferate, there uses are changing and there are many things customers are coming to expect of telecom services in 2022. So, what do they expect from, telecoms in 2022?
Increased use of AI to provide a better experience for customers – Artificial Intelligence can be a real blessing for businesses and many customers now expect it as a necessity rather than just an additional feature. There are many ways you can utilise AI for your company, from having it answer customers’ questions on chat, to helping customers choose the best purchasing options for them from your website.
The ability to receive a response around the clock – No longer is a company 9-5. With the majority of us shopping on our devices all around the clock, companies need to be on hand to answer any questions or queries that people might have, no matter what time it is. There are many ways you can do this and one of the main things that it’s expected, is for people to be on social media. Companies in 2022 will be expected to share shifts covering the main social media channels such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to answer any questions or queries that customers might have about particular items.
More personalised from chatbots or AI services – As well as the above, it’s expected that companies will utilise things such as chatbots a lot more to help with their business communications. Not only that – but it’s expected by customers that chatbots will be a lot more personalised than in the past. Instead of having a frustrating wait to speak to a real person about issues, they should be able to speak to a bot who can intelligently answer these questions and also make it feel more like speaking to an actual human. There are so many advances in technology in this field that it’s not too difficult to deliver this to your customers.
