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One of the most important developments in the VoIP industry in recent times has been the growth of mobile VoIP technology. Although its early days for the mobile VoIP operators such as Truphone, it certainly seems they have the capacity to reshape the industry quite dramatically. Some of the recent older mobile operators’ actions seem evidence of this with T-Mobile recently being forced to allow the use of Truphone over its network, having previously blocked calls to Truphone allocated numbers.

Whilst some industry insiders argue that as VoIP prices tend towards zero, this is making it a very hard industry to make any substantial profit in; the wider availability of cut cost ultra fast broadband and has resulted in a huge surge in the availability of free Wi-Fi. Consequently this is making mobile VoIP operators an increasingly attractive proposition for consumers. The trend in the availability of new ’smart phones’ with the ability to run mobile VoIP client software, at ever decreasing prices is also, it could be argued, creating a tipping point in the industry.

We have recently seen T-Mobile announce their Voice over IP service called @home giving customers the option of paying a single low monthly flat rate. However whilst the industry is finding home owners reluctant to abandon their fixed phone line completely, mobile VoIP companies have no such issue to contend with. The seamless integration of mobile VoIP software into the functionality of mobile phones, as well as the reduced cost of data-inclusive price schemes has resulted in a predictably rapid growth in the mobile VoIP sector.

At present it has been reported that there are 4 million VoIP customers in the UK, and its likely this figure will go up. How established mobile phone operators will take advantage of this growth remains to be seen but the decision to force T Mobile to allow calls to Truphone users surely transmits a clear signal that rather than try and resist the mobile VoIP operators, the entranched industry monoliths must find a way of working with them.

One problem which could have an impact on the take-up of mobile Voice over IP is security, with many highly publicized stories highlighting the vulnerabilities in making calls using VoIP. Another problem to to confront is ‘VoIP phishing’ where people are duped into giving up their personal data voluntarily after falling for a thief’s lure. This is also symptomatic of other VoIP security issues where unscrupulous would be thieves can tamper with the caller ID making it look as though they are calling from well known financial institutions. Once such stumbling blocks have been resolved and fears allayed it is likely that mobile VoIP will become much more prevalent in everyday life as people take the opportunity to turn their mobiles into VoIP phones.