Don't Discount Telecom Legacy Revenue

There are some interesting conclusions one might draw about the relative importance of several service provider products in global telecom markets, and in the United States, in the latest communications industry revenue forecast published by the Telecommunications Industry Association.


The most-obvious take away is the dominance and importance of wireless services. Globally, about 63 percent of all revenue, from all sources, is driven by wireless, the report says. 


About 25 percent of total revenue is produced by fixed line voice services. Fixed network broadband produces about 10 percent of total revenue. IPTV is about one percent of total revenue.


What might strike you about the latest report is the non-existent discussion of the impact of over the top VoIP services. The reason is simple enough: dispute all the time and energy people expend talking about VoIP, it isn't a significant revenue stream for larger service providers, on a global basis. 


That isn't to deny its importance for some specialized app or service providers. But it doesn't much "move the needle" on global service revenues.