Skype Drops In European Marketshare

Skype has been synonymous with VoIP with a lion’s share of the worldwide VoIP market, but things for Skype might not be so good in the future. Why? Skype are losing marketshare in the European marketplace, where it has been traditionally strong, to broadband ISPs who are bundling VoIP with their internet access.

Services from ISPs such as BT and AOL are infringing into traditional Skype territory and now control 51.2% of the European marketshare. As a result of this Skype’s marketshare has fallen from 90% last year, to 45% currently. This trend of slipping marketshare for Skype is also happening across the pond in the USA where ISPs such as Earthlink, who have traditionally relied on dialup subscriptions, are now muscling into the new VoIP market. Figures show Skype with a 14.4% US marketshare, far behind Vonage (21.7%) and other branded VoIP providers (53%).

While Skype has been at the forefront of VoIP’s push into the mainstream, it may now find that being computer-based is actually holding them back. Vonage and many other VoIP providers do not require software to run on a computer, which means that their next-generation VoIP phones are quite similar to phones already in homes and businesses around the world.

It will be interesting to see how Skype will fight this encroachment. Will they stay computer-based or will they be able to somehow diversify their offerings? It remains to be seen.