Communications Briefs

Vienna, Va. —VoIP provider SunRocket said last month that it had passed the 200,000 subscriber mark. The figures put the firm a distant second to Vonage in the pure-play VoIP category and ahead of 8x8, according to statistics from the research firm TeleGeography. In the coming months, SunRocket said it would spearhead efforts to "peer" with other VoIP providers, which would improve efficiency and call quality, the company said. Roughly 10 million U.S. homes use VoIP, according to the research firm In-Stat. TeleGeography estimates that there will be 14.7 million subscribers by year's end. The total VoIP market will rake in $4.4 billion in revenues in 2007 vs. $2.7 billion in 2006.

Santa Clara, Calif. — VoIP provider 8x8 announced last month that it had passed the 7,000 subscriber mark for its Virtual Office business phone service. The VoIP hosted PBX phone service is pitched at small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) and costs $49.99 per month, per extension. In an effort to differentiate itself from other pure-play competition and to attract higher margin business, 8x8 has shifted its marketing behind Virtual Office, while continuing to support its residential Packet8 service. According to sales and marketing VP Huw Rees, starting in January the company has been signing up more business lines than consumer ones. Office Depot is promoting the Virtual Office product with end cap displays in select stores, according to 8x8.

Scottsdale, Ariz. — Cable providers nearly doubled their number of telephone subscribers in 2006 thanks to VoIP technology, a new study from In-Stat found. In-Stat also noted that worldwide cable telephony subscriptions jumped from 15.8 million in 2005 to over 22 million last year. Cable telephone service revenues are predicted to reach $10.4 billion this year, up from $7.9 billion in 2006, according to the research firm. Cable providers are migrating to VoIP over circuit-switched based telephony networks due to lower cost. Of the 9.4 million cable telephone subscribers in North America, 6.6 million are VoIP users, In-Stat said. The pick-up in cable telephone subscriptions is happening swiftly, In-Stat observed, with 42 percent of surveyed U.S. consumers saying they signed up for service in the last 12 months.