smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

The growth of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) will boost the capabilities of IT for small businesses, experts have claimed.

According to Internet Telephony Services Providers Association (ITSPA), the technology, which allows phone calls to be made over broadband internet connections, is experiencing strong take-up and improving business communications.

Eli Katz, ITSPA chairman, says: 'Ofcom's recent statistics indicate two to three times growth...just in the past year.

'One of the key drivers is broadband penetration and certainly amongst small business, that continues to be a very high penetration and it continues to expand on that.'

Claiming that UK small firms were still behind their European counterparts in the uptake of the technology, he adds: 'There are other countries that are already at twenty, thirty per cent level of penetration – in terms of all subscribers utilising VoIP services. But here in the UK it's still in the single digits.'

According to Ofcom, industry estimates suggest that there are now more than one million active VoIP users in the UK and take-up growth is forecast to continue.

There are currently no comments on this article