Web conferencing grows by 56 per cent in Asia Pacific

In a study conducted for the conferencing market of Asia Pacific by research company Wainhouse, web conferencing exhibited a stupendous 56 per cent year over year growth. The total revenue for the conferencing market increased at a rate of 15 per cent in the region in 2010 as compared to 2009 to end the year at $ 828.8 million, with web conferencing solutions being responsible for 14 per cent of this figure. Audio conferencing services accounted for 81 per cent of the total share in the market, while video conferencing took the remaining share of the pie at 5 per cent. Along with web conferencing, audio and video conferencing also grew in 2010 in Asia Pacific. While the profits for video calls increased by 19 per cent over 2009, the market also saw a 10 per cent increase in revenue of audio calls. Even in audio conferencing, there was an 11 per cent increase in the unattended call profits generated by Conferencing Service Providers (CSPs), though attended call revenues contracted by 2 per cent as compared to 2009. This trend is expected to continue as Wainhouse believes that the profits for attended calls will continue to decrease at a consolidated rate of 3 per cent in the next 4 years, while unattended call revenues will grow at a compounded rate of 11 per cent till 2015. The share of web conferencing in Asia Pacific is expected to rise by 21 per cent by 2015, while video conferencing should grow at a steady pace of 9 per cent in the region during the same time period. In the coming times, attended audio conferencing will increase at 6 per cent in terms of volumes, while unattended audio calls will see a 20 per cent compounded demand. The market will also see a decrease in price, with the rates for attended calls falling more sharply than unattended calls. Overall, the conferencing revenue in the Asia Pacific region is expected to increase by 12 per cent, as per Wainhouse. As compared to 2009, the volumes for attended calls increased by 1 per cent in 2010, while demand for unattended calls surged by 15 per cent. In Asia Pacific, the former accounted for 6460 million minutes or 96 per cent of the total consumption, while the latter was responsible for 247.6 million minutes, thus bringing its share to just 4 per cent. This shows that the users in the region still rely on unattended conferencing to communicate with remotely located counterparts. This study was an effort by Wainhouse to gauge the market dynamics of the Asia Pacific region and estimate the prospects of the conferencing industry as a whole here.