Despite 100 million mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) users being predicted by 2011, mobile VoIP is still a long way from achieving critical mass.  Rodrigue Ullens, CEO & Co-founder of Voxbone, looks at what has slowed the uptake of mobile VoIP, and identifies how some recent innovations in the telecoms market are helping it to break into the mainstream

Since 2007, many people have said it is the year of mobile VoIP, yet here we are in 2009 and it is still to come of age. Three main factors have prevented mobile VoIP from achieving this critical mass. The first is regulatory. When mobile networks are compared with their fixed equivalents, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a huge difference in the level of liberalisation. Any telco can set up its own fixed network, obtain numbers from the regulator, have the numbers implemented by all other carriers, and have all of these number ranges considered equal. These are then included in unlimited package deals from the fixed and wireless carriers. With mobile networks, however, it is not universally possible for all mobile VoIP providers numbers to be reached from a landline or mobile phone and these numbers are often outside of the inclusive call minutes which come with your mobile phone contract.

Complex applications
The second factor – partly resulting from the regulatory environment – concerns complexity. At least 90% of people who turn to a mobile VoIP solution most probably do so because they want cheaper calls. But, make it difficult to download and use the application, and people will abandon it in favour of their traditional service. Generally speaking, mobile VoIP providers have been unable to come up with a solution that does not involve either software that is tricky to download to a mobile phone, swapping SIM cards, a complex calling system involving callback, or other, similar tricks. This has resulted in many consumers deeming these services to be far too much hassle. This is now changing, however, as a result of the Mobile Application stores, such as those provided by Apple, RIM and soon, Nokia. These stores make it much easier for consumers to discover and download mobile VoIP applications onto their phones, removing a barrier to people trying a mobile VoIP application in the first place.
The final problem has been the sheer number of distinct mobile VoIP providers on the market. While just five mobile network operators have obtained spectrum in the UK, there are scores of mobile VoIP providers, each with their own significant, yet relatively small, user-base. This creates a problem for two reasons. Firstly, it becomes very difficult for a consumer to decide which mobile VoIP service to use, as different offerings will perform better depending on when and where they are used. Secondly, it proves troublesome when a consumer finds that their friends are spread across two or more different providers and they are unable to call friends on other networks.

Area code for Earth
In fact, this no longer needs to be an issue, as last year, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) created the country code +883. Consequently, we now effectively have an area code for Earth, which means that it is possible to bridge the gap between the separate mobile VoIP islands. For example, calling between the likes of Truphone, Jajah, Rebtel, DeFi and Gizmo5 is now possible, as they have all become part of the iNum community. This makes these mobile VoIP services reachable to a much larger number of users, and much more desirable to consumers.
None of the above recent innovations in technology are the Holy Grail to instantly enable mobile VoIP to fulfil its promise and to achieve critical mass. The next long term aim must be to bring about evolutions in the regulatory environment to enable a mobile sector in which we can better foster innovation, competition and cheap calls. Were regulators to ensure that any telco could have access to the spectrum to provide a wireless service, and were all telcos required to implement (and treat as equal) each others mobile numbers, this would dramatically lower the cost of all mobile calls. Furthermore, there would be no need to put a further cap on roaming fees and the cost of SMS as the EU is doing now.