Although the number of VoIP users in the U.S. increased from 6.5 million in mid-2006 to 11.8 million by the 2nd quarter of 2007, the growth rate is much faster in Europe, according to a recent report from TeleGeography.

The market research firm’s US VoIP Research Service predicts that by 2011, VoIP penetration in Europe will be approximately twice as great as in the US.

In the last few years, there has been a substantial shift in the number of VoIP companies that are operating in the U.S. While network-independent providers like Vonage (News - Alert) have found it hard to do business in the U.S., cable companies have signed on customers and made huge profits. The report predicts that U.S. cable operators will see their VoIP customer base grow to 23.3 million subscribers by 2011.

According to TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert, cable VoIP “has emerged as a mainstream service that is causing traditional service providers some headaches.”

But it’s a different scenario in Europe, where VoIP still has the capacity to change the structure of the market. Freer access to incumbents’ local copper loops, more aggressive competition and pricing, and the active participation of incumbent operators such as France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom (News - Alert) and BT in the VoIP market are some of the factors that have propelled VoIP in Europe.

The study reveals considerable changes in the growth patterns for VoIP in the both the U.S. and Europe in recent years. In U.S., key players like AT&T, Verizon (News - Alert) and Qwest do not seem interested in VoIP, whereas in Europe the dominant carriers are embracing it.

TeleGeography's U.S. and European VoIP research services provide in-depth data and market analysis of the U.S. and European consumer voice over IP markets, including market shares, growth rates, forecasts, and profiles of leading providers. For more information, visit www.telegeography.com.

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Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.