iLocus (one of my favorite places to grab in-depth analysis of the VoIP markets) released some new figures yesterday on the VoIP market.

According to their research:

• Local VoIP minute usage grew by 7% from Q3 08 to Q4 08 (est 107. 2 billion minutes)
• International long distance (ILD) minutes showed a small pull-back in Q4 08 (est 22.5 billion minutes)
• National long distance (NLD) minutes showed a continued increase reaching an estimated total of 298.1 billion minutes

The growth in the local VoIP minute usage is likely attributed to the success of the cable companies with their digital home phone service offerings. While 7% wouldn’t wow anyone in a normal economic environment, given that most markets have lost 20 – 30% of the top in recent months, any growth is good.

iLocus attributes the decline in international long distance to consolidation in the wholesale ILD service provider space. One could also agrue that the economy is at play since people are likely cutting back on more costly ILD calls.

The steady growth in NLD VoIP minutes is attributed to the wireless carriers growing use of IP networks. Given that most VoIP providers (both consumer and business) have continued to grow in the face of the recession some of the total growth must be attributed to the migration to VoIP as a low cost alternative.

While Q408 wasn’t as stellar as many quarters in the past it was certainly better then what many other sectors can claim.

It’s hard being different.

For years Skype has been something different. A new kind of communications company. One that does all the things that a cutting-edge 2.0 new age telecommunications company should be doing.

But today it seems that they’ve come to the reality that sometimes you just have to be like everyone else.

The launch of Skype for SIP, a beta program that gives you Skype trunking functionality for your SIP based VoIP PBX systems, is big news for many in the industry.

Except isn’t this just a me-too trunking service? A way for businesses to take advantage of the economies offered by Skype’s peer-to-peer network.

Sorry folks. There is nothing big here except cheap minutes. The same thing that most in the industry detest hearing from VoIP providers.

Innovation and cutting edge doesn’t always pay the bills. Today we found out Skype knows this. And that’s why they’re once again going into minute stealer mode.

There is money in “plumbing.” Especially if yours is cheaper.

Get all of your Skype Hardware at VoIP Supply!

There’s been quite a buzz surrounding Google’s release of Google voice. The offering is the second coming of GrandCentral, the service Google acquire a few years back.

Anytime a company like Google get’s involved with voice it seems like everyone in and around telecommunications loses their brains.

Folks. Google voice is not a business. It is simply a feature of a larger offering (which may or may not come to fruition).

You have to look at Google voice in the context of what Google is – an advertising company that wants to be a commerce company. To think that Google has ambitions past bolstering and or protecting their main income streams (ads) is far fetched at best.

In order for Google to continue to drive ad revenues they need more advertisers. To do this they need to make it easier to create something that requires advertising (I.E. an online business).

Slowly but surely Google is piecing together all of the components an entrepreneur or existing offline business needs to do business online. Sort of what eBay tried to do (but is failing at with) PayPal and Skype.

Google offers a way to make a site (Sites), optimize it for search (Site optimizer, webmaster tools), advertise it (Adwords, Ad manager), track performance (Analytics) and take payments (Google checkout). Now sprinkle in hosted productivity and collaboration products like Google docs, and way to communicate (Google Voice, Google talk) you’ve got all of need to launch a basic business online.

Today these all look like disparate offerings, but when put together they actually fit together well.

Can Google execute on this? Don’t know. That’s their problem.

But don’t expect them to be a VoIP/voice provider in any traditional sense.

Worse case they’ll use Google voice as a way to cover the black hole created by online leads that are converted offline. Like what Ifbyphone is doing with their call tracking services.

It’s a big problem for many marketers. Many of which would spend more if they new where all of their revenues were coming from.