Traffic upswing in the mobile VoIP sector in China is expected to exceed 100 percent annually till 2014, according to Research and Markets’ recently released "China Sourcing Report: VoIP Products 2010" report.

According to the recent report "The Future of Consumer VoIP" by Research and Markets, it is important to distinguish between a profitable business that successfully sells VoIP services and a profitable VoIP business. The report shows that the most profitable over-the-top VoIP providers are those that quickly leveraged their success into building their own networks.

Our sister publication FierceTelecom got an interview with Verizon Business president Fran Shammo this week that touched on a number of relevant topics, including the division's hosted VoIP business, security plays, and overall business communications services spending. Shammo sees strong growth in the hosted VoIP business, and he said while business services volumes are decreasing and equipment purchases are down, the focus on cost savings has opened discussions in other areas of Verizon Business' markets. 

For more:
- see the full interview here

Sprint announced today the availability of its new unified communications solutions through its Business Markets Group. In promoting the new offerings, Sprint trumpeted its partnerships with Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and others and its "leadership in wireless-wireline integration."

As part of the release, Sprint announced it is can offer SIP trunking and mobile integration with Cisco's Unified Communications Manager, IBM's SameTime Unified Telephony platform, and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2.

"Enabling unified communications is a cornerstone of Sprint's strategy to serve the rapidly evolving and increasing demands of the business and government market via our dependable Now Network," said Paget Alves, president of the carrier's Business Markets Group, in a release. "Our customers operate in a complex environment, but they need just the opposite in their communications experience. We are converging wireless and wireline technologies into an unprecedented user experience that is fully mobile, flexible, feature-rich, simplified and cost-efficient."

In the release, Sprint also touted the $6 million it has saved using the unified communications solutions internally.

Sprint's Business Markets Group is a significant revenue driver for the company, as the group provided almost $4 billion in revenue in the first quarter.

For more:
- see the press release here
- see the Business Markets Group earnings results release here 

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Sprint enhances VoIP services for cable companies

One of the US's largest providers of VoIP solutions, Cypress Communications, is to announce shortly that it is expanding operations into Europe and the Middle East.
After more than 20 years providing managed communication solutions to clients across the States, the Atlanta, Georgia-based company is to extend its network internationally.