Mobile VoIP set to hit half a trillion minutes

The number of voice over IP (VoIP) calls carried over mobile networks is set to grow a massive 30 times over in the next five years.

Analysts Juniper Research calculate that users of mobile 3G and 4G networks currently make 15 billion minutes of calls using VoIP. But as faster networks become more common, Juniper believes this total will rise, to 470.6 billion minutes.

Mobile VoIP traffic is also growing, as more handsets support Internet calling over Wi-Fi, including services such as Skype, and Apple's new FaceTime video calling service on the

Juniper expects to see more deals between operators and VoIP services, as the mobile companies seek to defend their revenues from voice calls.

Arrangements such as those between

Three and Skype in the UK, and with [a href="http://www.verizonwireless.com/target="_blank"]Verizon Wireless

[/a] in the US will become more common, Juniper believes, as operators' incomes from conventional, circuit-switched calls continue to fall.

Mobile companies will try to "bury the hatchet" with VoIP providers and set up partnerships that will allow them to least capture at least some mobile VoIP traffic.

The trend growth in mobile VoIP calls is expected to grow quickly among business users, who are more likely to use unlocked handsets with VoIP support, such as the Nokia E Series, or devices such as Cisco's upcoming Cius tablet device.