With the projected rise of VoIP within the end of the decade (an expected 32 million US subscribers during 2010), and nearly 40 percent of all broadband households expected to be signed up for VoIP, the market opportunity for the service is growing.

A recent report from eMarketer calls this a battle in the large war to capture the up-for-grabs market, with major players in the cable, ISP, Internet portals and pure-play VoIP space all heading for the front lines to capture at least a part of $190 billion US fixed-line telephony market, which the telecoms have basically had to themselves.

“A fierce battle is emerging in the VoIP market, and is only one part of a larger war that is being waged on three (or more) fronts between telecoms and cable MSOs. At stake is the so-called triple-play, which is a market worth approximately $300 billion,” says Ben Macklin, a senior analyst for eMarketer.

Wireless and quad-play are also fighters in the battle. Revenues and subscribers for the US fixed-line market have been falling for five years while the number of mobile phone subscribers in 2005 (at 194.5 million) surpassed landline phone subscribers (a close 172.1 million) for the first time.

Obviously, wireless is emerging as the key component to the quad play. The result is likely to be a flurry of wireless related entries into the broadband space.