Comcast and Verizon are the top North American Business VoIP service providers, according to Infonetics Research just released report: North America Business VoIP Service Leadership Scorecard.  The report analyzes and ranks the top service providers in the hosted VoIP and unified communications (UC) services market and the IP connectivity market.
 

A few Highlights:

• Comcast earned a high overall score of 33 out of 35 for hosted VoIP services; West, Verizon, and 8×8 are also among the top hosted VoIP providers in North America
• Verizon Business earned a high overall score of 32 out of 35 for IP connectivity providers; AT&T, Comcast, and XO Communications are also among the top providers in North America
• At the end of 2011, many of the top hosted VoIP service providers had over 100,000 VoIP and UC seats, while others had fewer than 50,000 seats, signaling further consolidation to come, and likely the shuttering of some businesses
• On the IP connectivity front, the bulk of the installed base has become concentrated with the large operators, as scale is necessary for a successful business in a service market based on lower-prices
• The competitive landscape for hosted VoIP services is shaking up, with the traditional PBX and Unified Communications equipment vendors such as ShoreTel, NEC, Mitel, Avaya, and Cisco jumping into the cloud.

“Comcast’s acquisition of New Global Telecom, the former perennial leader in our business VoIP scorecards, propelled Comcast to the #1 position in Infonetics’ hosted Business VoIP Leadership Scorecard this year,” announced Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research. “And, for the fourth year in a row, Verizon Business is #1 in our IP Connectivity Leadership Scorecard, followed by AT&T.”

Ms. Myers adds: “After a banner 2010, 2011 was another year of consolidation in North America among business VoIP service providers. Though there are still a large number of VoIP service providers in North America, consolidation is starting to separate the large providers from the rest of the pack.”

Last month, Infonetics said that the VoIP services market is growing strongly as businesses seek flexibility and easier management.  Myers said, “Global service provider revenue from business and residential/SOHO VoIP services totaled nearly $58 billion in 2011, up 16% from the previous year.”

“The revenue that service providers derive from their residential and SOHO VoIP subscribers still eclipses what they get from businesses, but the business segment is growing about twice as fast, due in large part to the surging popularity of SIP trunking and hosted VoIP and UC services. Adoption of VoIP services across both the residential and business segments continues to grow, and we expect strong global growth in VoIP service revenue over at least the next five years,” according to Ms. Myers. 

Infonetics’ North America Business VoIP Service Leadership Scorecard profiles, analyzes, and ranks leading hosted VoIP and unified communications (UC) service providers and leading IP business connectivity service providers in the U.S. and Canada. Service provider scores are based on criteria such as installed base of lines/trunks or seats, financial stability, market strategy, service capabilities, and support options. Service provider scores and data are displayed in charts and tables in the report, accompanied by service provider profiles describing their offerings and analysis of the individual scores.

Service providers ranked in Infonetics’ 2012 North America Business VoIP Service Leadership Scorecard include 8×8, AT&T, Bandwidth.com, BroadView Networks, Cbeyond, Comcast, Cox, Level 3, Megapath, RingCentral, ShoreTel/M5, Sprint, Thinking Phone Networks, Verizon Business, West, Windstream, and XO Communications.

For more information on Infonetics’ Reports:

http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp