Voice over IP (VoIP) has gained significant momentum in recent years and now has a prominent place in the mobile ecosystem, forcing mobile network providers to take a different stance towards this technology.

The changing bargaining power

While mobile voice still remains the cash cow for network carriers, in the EU in particularly there are signs of stagnation and growth is now primarily driven by data revenues and the sales of Smartphones. The need to upgrade text and voice users to Smartphones and data plan deals has shifted the balance of power amongst the forces that define the competitive landscape in the mobile sector.

GfK NOP research reveals most popular online brands in communication, entertainment and information services

The ‘Connected Life’ study, which asked 2,000 UK internet users about their favourite services, found 60% of music users stream music directly from the internet. While iTunes still leads the direct-streaming arena (17%), Spotify is coming up at a close second, with 12%.  Looking at all digital music users (not just direct streamers), 11% of these have used Spotify, making this fourth most popular digital music service, behind the more established Real Player (13%), Amazon (24%) and ITunes (50%). Another newcomer, Last.FM, also fares well with seven per cent having used the service; ahead of two of the pioneers of digital music mp3.com (5%) and Napster (4%).

Babita Earle, Divisional Director at GfK Technology comments: