In excess of 1 million residential VoIP internet phone lines have been created by France Telecom (FT) across Europe, as says a partner in the business, Netcentrex.
FT has had its VoIP service set up and running for around 27 months by now. Towards the end of 2005 there were 150,000 new customers each month, with over one million VoIP lines in use. All this occurred over the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France and the UK.
What is not yet known is how these vast numbers are split for each country.
The UK could, by FT’s estimates, be their biggest customer base, with over 100,000 VoIP users at present.
Another large telecoms company, British Telecoms (BT), pointed out that it had around 300,000 British subscribers.
As new technology (e.g. satellite internet phone systems) for phoning appears to be advancing steadily, companies and consumers alike look set to eagerly seize upon each opportunity as they arise.