The analyst firm reports that worldwide VoIP subscriptions passed 100 million by the end of 2009, with a further 12 million subscribers added in the first half of 2010. In some markets, it is generally quite difficult and not cost-effective to subscribe to broadband without a bundled VoIP service. France Telecom, for example, offers one relatively low-speed consumer stand-alone broadband subscription, but a wide range of higher-speed bundles.
As a result, more than 70% of households in France now have a VoIP service available to them, while Point Topic says that 22% of consumer broadband lines worldwide now come with VoIP. Although markets such as France are nearing saturation, the firm points out that there are significant absentees from its top 10 countries by subscriptions. China, the largest broadband market, has only one in 20 broadband subscriptions with a VoIP bundle, while the US, which is currently the largest VoIP market in absolute terms, is approaching one in three.
