26 August 2005
Internet telephony is shaking up the traditional fixed-line home telephone market, an influential organisation has said.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology is "threatening the fixed-line revenues of traditional carriers", especially on international calls.
The OECD says that for the first time ever the number of fixed phone lines fell in 2003 in Europe.
The drop is explained by the rise in popularity of free VoIP providers such as Skype, which the report says can save you 80 per cent on home telephone bills.
Users in Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland are hooked on Skype the most, with Google's new VoIP service expected to shake things up still further.
The report also forecasts that new "triple play" packages offering digital TV, broadband and home telephone services from one operator will take off.
Analysts think that downloading video from the internet will result in fewer people watching free-to-air TV.
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