International Call Traffic Growth Slows as Skype’s Volumes Soar

Skype now accounts for over a third of all International Long Distance traffic!


With 250 MAU, proposed deeper integration across Microsoft's assets (XBox, Windows, WP), cross platform availability coupled with increasing smartphone penetration & rapidly growing mobile data adoption, Skype usage including International Long Distance Traffic is bound to grow substantially.


One of the crown jewels in MS's portfolio


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January 09, 2012

International long distance traffic growth is slowing rapidly. According to new data from TeleGeography, international long distance traffic grew four percent in 2011, to 438 billion minutes. This growth rate was less than one-third of the industry’s long-run historical average of 13 percent annual growth. Because telcos must rely on strong volume growth to offset inevitable price declines, slowing traffic growth is making life ever more difficult for international service providers.

International Long Distance Traffic Growth, Carriers vs. Skype 

Source: TeleGeography

In contrast to international phone traffic, Skype’s cross-border traffic has continued to soar. TeleGeography estimates that cross-border Skype-to-Skype calls (including video calls) grew 48 percent in 2011, to 145 billion minutes. Although the volume of international traffic routed via telephone companies remains more than three times greater than Skype’s cross-border volumes, their growth rates differ dramatically. TeleGeography estimates that Skype added 47 billion minutes of international traffic in 2011—more than twice as much as all the telephone companies in the world, combined.

“Given Skype’s enormous traffic volumes, it’s difficult not to conclude that at least some of Skype’s growth is coming at the expense of traditional carriers,” said TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert. “If all of Skype’s on-net traffic had been routed via phone companies, global cross-border telephone traffic would have grown 13 percent in 2011, remaining in line with historical growth rates.”