20/09/2007

The take-up of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) among small businesses is currently rising at a faster pace than that seen for larger firms, according to one expert.

Maren Bennette of the Communications Management Association said that this could be attributed to the fact that the very first users of VoIP at the turn of the century were mainly medium-sized enterprises that quickly outgrew their existing telephony systems.

They were then followed by larger companies that have now realised VoIP is 'here to stay', he explained.

'Smaller companies and organisations were the last group to adopt VoIP, mainly because they had little reason to change the telephone systems they had in place already,' Mr Bennette commented.

He added that VoIP's perceived costs and complexity put off small firms from adopting it as they did not have the finances or the technical resources to make the shift.

According to research firm In-Stat, worldwide VoIP subscribers could surpass the 55 million mark in 2009.