A new survey by Infonetics Research highlights how many mobile subscribers are adopting VoIP applications, with nearly one billion users expected this year. But ARPU levels remain low, it says.

Adoption of mobile VoIP, in which Skype remains the dominant force, continues to pick up pace. User numbers were over 640 million in 2012, a 550 per cent increase over the previous year.

Yet the revenues for the major players are not substantial. Infonetics has calculated that mobile VoIP ARPU is only $7 annually (2012 figure), which is why Over-The-Top (OTT) players are looking for alternative sources of revenue, such as advertising, add-on features, third-party apps and wholesale deals with mobile operators.

Skype is still the leading force with a 40 per cent share of all active users of OTT mobile VoIP services in 2012, said the survey.

Other players include Fring, KakaoTalk, Line, Nimbuzz, WeChat and Viber.

Separately, the survey looks at the market for voice over LTE (VoLTE) and has upped its predictions, given the recent success of SK Telecom’s deployment.

The firm now expects 12 commercial VoLTE networks and eight million subscribers by the end of 2013. The focus will be Asia Pacific, which will account for about three quarters of the market. The key has been Korea where SK Telecom has attracted 3.6 million VoLTE subscribers (April 2013 figure).