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160 Million Mobile Video Calling Users by 2017

With traditional core revenues from circuit switched voice under pressure, telecom service providers across the globe are exploring new strategies to remain competitive in an IP-based networking environment. To date, video communication is an untapped opportunity.

As the market evolves, both mobile network operators (MNOs) and third-party service providers are encountering new challenges as they seek to increase (or maintain) market share and revenues.

The number of users of mobile video calling services is forecast to increase four-fold to almost 160 million by 2017, driven by improvements in both the user-interface and the underlying technology, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research.

Advertising and freemium models are beginning to emerge in the mobile video calling market, but revenue generation remains the key challenge for mobile video calling service providers.

Freemium models are being explored, but are behind other areas of the broader mobile market, while mobile advertisers have yet to explore the potential of mobile video calling in earnest.

"Mobile advertising is becoming mainstream, but the model still needs to be adapted for mobile video calling for meaningful revenues to become available to service providers," said Anthony Cox, Associate Analyst at Juniper Research.

Despite this, Juniper believes that key players in the mobile video calling market have recently received additional funding from their backers, representing an implicit blessing of their business strategies.


Further findings from the market study include:
  • Specialist mobile VoIP companies are opening their Application Programming Interfaces to third parties, including MNOs, to gain revenues.
  • The arrival of 4G will give further impetus to mobile VoIP take-up but potentially accelerate the decline in overall voice revenues for MNOs.
  • Advanced IP-based services will develop faster in developed markets due to the direct correlation between 3G and 4G roll-outs and the take-up of mobile VoIP and mobile video calling.
  • Revenues from the circuit switched voice market will continue to fall over the next five years but will not accelerate.

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