Skype claims VoIP lead - IT Week
Almost half of the internet telephony market goes to the startup company

Tom Sanders in California,

Skype has claimed the top spot in the global VoIP league, according to a web traffic analysis by broadband management firm Sandvine.

Sandvine’’s data puts the market share in North America for London-based Skype at 46.2 per cent, giving the provider a clear lead over other VoIP providers including Vonage, AT&T Callvantage and Dailpad, which last week was acquired by Yahoo.

The number two spot is hotly contended between several of those VoIP service providers, a spokeswoman for Sandvine told vnunet.com.

Sandvine is a provider of broadband equipment for internet providers. The company’’s equipment allows ISPs to give VoIP traffic priority over less time sensitive data. It claims its equipment regulates the traffic for over 20 million broadband internet subscribers worldwide, the company claims, and 11 million of North America’’s 60 million broadband subscribers.

Although the comparison between Skype and other VoIP providers is a fair method to identify the balance of power in this nascent market, the company itself does not consider Vonage and AT&T competitors, Skype chief executive Niklas Zennstr�m told vnunet.com in an interview last January .

Vonage and AT&T represent a group of VoIP providers that offer a telephone replacement service. Users require a VoIP adapter that on the one end they plug into a traditional telephone and on the other end they hook up to the internet. Skype develops a software platform for a number of devices, ranging from desktop computers to handhelds and special Skype enbabled handsets.

“We are suggesting that Skype is the personal communication service users can use in addition to their phone line,” Zennstrom said.

“What Vonage does is the same as traditional telephony. We are offering a personal mobile communications service which comprises IP voice communications, instant messaging and file transfer. Voice communication is part of our offering, but not everything.”