Sydney, 9 July 2008. A new IDC Insight report has revealed that although residential VoIP services have been available in Australia for the past four years, the uptake has been slow compared with Europe and the U.S.

The Insight titled Residential VoIP: Let's Get Naked, reveals the slower uptake is attributed to several factors including lack of, and high cost of broadband, poor quality of service (QoS), number portability and high complexity. However, over the past 6-12 months, IDC notes there has been an upswing in consumers moving to residential VoIP services due to many of these inhibitors being overcome.

“A key driver to this is the bundled sell of broadband and VoIP together and more recently, the offering of Naked DSL services, which is a business model that has been enabled via regulation more than technical capabilities,” said David Cannon, Program Manager, Telecommunications at IDC.

Please Note: All assumptions based on future residential VoIP and naked DSL service adoption does not take into account the proposed National Broadband Network and the cutting of the copper loop.

Other highlights from the Insight include:

-Throughout 2007, the Australia residential VoIP market enjoyed strong growth. At the end of CY07, there were an estimated 285,000 residential VoIP subscribers with an estimated value of A$40.67 million.

-IDC believes that the network based VoIP service will become the dominant residential VoIP service offering in Australia over the course of the next 24 months. - Incumbent SPs in various countries across Europe and the United States have been offering Naked DSL services for the last two years in order to stymie their competitors’ rollout of their own DSLAM infrastructure.

- Many consumers are now more reliant on their mobile phone than they are on their landline phone. A point of frustration for this type of consumer has been that in order to have a broadband connection, you still need to have an active PSTN line. This meant paying two access services fees when wanting only one service.

- Scalability and flexibility are synonymous with VoIP. The functionality that VoIP delivers, even at its early stages of maturity, supersedes that of the PSTN. This means that VoIP is ultimately a better product that also enables fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) and unified communications (UC).

On IDC’s website www.idc.com, this media release relates to document #AU201206Q, Residential VoIP: Let's Get Naked.

This report is now available. To purchase this report, please contact Lady Gueco, Business Development Manager on +61 2 9925 2261 or lgueco@idc.com.

Ends

For press enquires please contact: David Cannon Program Manager, Telecommunications +61 2 9925 2223 dcannon@idc.com Sally Taylor-Phillips Marketing Communications Manager, IDC +61 2 9925 2234 staylorphillips@idc.com

About IDC IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends covering over 110 countries worldwide. For more than 44 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com or www.idc.com.au.

During 2008, IDC is celebrating its 30th birthday in Australia.