APAC Wholesale Voice Carrier Market share to exceed USD 7 billion in 2026 and is set to register a lucrative growth between 2020 and 2026, growing at a CAGR of over 8%. The total voice traffic across APAC exceeded 200 billion minutes in 2019.

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The APAC market is witnessing a rapid telecom shift toward HD voice calling and VoIP technologies. CSPs and telecom service providers are increasingly purchasing wholesale voice carrier services to improve revenues and mitigate financial losses, creating new avenues for market expansion. Wholesale voice carrier services have increasingly gained market traction amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as subscribers are making frequent and long-duration calls. Nations, such as India, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, are rapidly building a strong VoIP landscape amid the ongoing pandemic, which is expected to proliferate further as work from home and remote working trends continue to rise.

The interconnect billing segment is set to attain a CAGR of nearly 10% by 2026. Interconnect billing solutions are becoming mainstream as telecom enterprises look for convergent billing systems to accelerate their digital transformation strategies. Convergent billing solutions enable telecom operators to eliminate the dependency on multiple legacy billing platforms and lower the total cost of ownership.

The leased transmission network segment accounted for over 25% of market share in 2019, attributed to the growing uptake of leased network infrastructure for VoIP call termination across multiple geographical locations in the APAC. The highly competitive nature of the telecom industry has led to an increase in the number of tier-2 and tier-3 providers, who are increasingly leasing network capacities from tier-1 operators to reduce total cost of ownership and gain profitability.

The traditional switching segment held around 70% of the market share in 2019. This is attributed to the high use of traditional (non-VoIP) voice calls by subscribers in developing APAC nations due to the existing legacy infrastructure. In addition, expensive cellular internet and limited choice of unlimited data packs have also refrained several subscribers from switching to VoIP, thereby increasing market share of traditional switching technologies.

The wholesale voice carrier market in South Korea is expected to grow significantly with robust ICT Infrastructure. The advancements in the telecom industry and commercialization of 5G network services are anticipated to support the market growth. For instance, in April 2019, KT Corporation launched its first 5G commercial network with high reliable and rapid connectivity in South Korea. The company provides voice traffic wholesale services with call termination service and interconnection support to VoIP, TDM & IPX.

The APAC market has witnessed the launch of several new services by key players to leverage their wholesale voice infrastructure for capitalizing on new opportunities. For instance, in December 2019, Airtel launched Airtel Wi-Fi Calling, its VoIP service, across major cities in India. Though this service, customers can benefit from enhanced calling experience at free of cost. In May 2018, Airtel launched its innovative voice platform that offers quick voice interconnects and real-time traffic analytics for global carriers across the world. The company also uses this platform for offering wholesale voice carrier services.

Some of the leading companies operating in the market include Alepo, AT&T, Inc., Bharti Airtel Ltd., BICS SA, BT Group Plc, CenturyLink, Inc., China Telecommunications Corporation, CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited, Comarch SA, Deutsche Telekom AG, Emirates Telecommunication Group Company PJSC (Etisalat), Globitel, IDT Corporation, NTT Corporation, Orange SA, Singapore Telecommunications Limited, Sprint (T-Mobile), Tata Communications Ltd., Telenor ASA, Telstra Corporation Ltd., Verizon Communications Inc., and Vodafone Group Plc.