Web conferencing leads market with 46 per cent growth in Singapore

Web conferencing consolidated its position as the fastest growing remote communication tool in Singapore with a staggering 46 per cent year over year increase in 2010. This figure was released by research group Wainhouse in a study it released on the conferencing market of Singapore. Video conferencing and audio calls also showed commendable growth of 17 per cent and 15 per cent in the market. However, in spite of the stellar growth rate, web conferencing accounts for just 9 per cent of the total conferencing market as audio calls lead with an 88 per cent share, followed by a 3 per cent share of video conferencing in 2010. Overall, the market showed a 17 per cent increase in 2010 over 2009, as per Wainhouse.

Web conferencing is expected to show its stellar growth in the coming 4 years too, expanding at a steady pace of 21 per cent. On the other hand, video conferencing will grow at a good rate initially, but then demand is expected to slow down, resulting in compounded growth rate of 5 per cent. Aggregated profits from conferencing will increase at 7 per cent in the next 4 years, though Wainhouse believes that the demand will surge initially and settle down later.

In audio conferencing, unattended calls enjoy 95 per cent share in terms of volume (752.4 million minutes) as compared to the 5 per cent market volumes of attended calls (36.1 million minutes). In coming times, the demand for unattended call will see an upswing of 15 per cent, while attended calls volumes will increase till 2013 and then decrease till 2105, bring its compounded growth to 2 per cent. There will be a slight reduction in the prices of on-demand as well as operator-assisted audio conference calls in Singapore by 2015. In terms of revenue, attended calls will decrease at a consolidated rate of 5 per cent, while profits from unattended calls will increase by 6 per cent till 2015.

In terms of volumes, attended calls increased by 11 per cent, while unattended calls grew by 15 per cent in 2010 against 2009. On the other hand, the profits generated from attended calls increased by just 1 per cent, as compared to the 17 per cent growth shown by unattended call revenues, showing the disparity between demand and profits. In the coming times, the demand for attended calls in expected to increase by 2 per cent and volumes of unattended calls are expected to continue growing at 15 per cent. On the other hand, the revenue from attended calls will decrease by 5 per cent due to price erosion, though unattended call revenues will still register a 6 per cent growth.