It's a new year, which means we've refreshed the data in our International Voice Report.
If you're new to the voice industry–or just looking to refresh your knowledge—you've come to the right place. Before you peruse our new voice data and analysis, our expert team has collected a handful of terms and definitions to get you up to speed.
What is International Traffic?
When we talk about international voice traffic, what are we referring to?
Our data shows cross-border traffic transported by carriers. This traffic includes both voice and fax traffic. It excludes traffic sent over closed networks—for example, intra-corporate voice calls transmitted over a company’s virtual private network (VPN).
What is TDM?
Time-division multiplexing (TDM) refers to a point-to-point private line transport service between two locations.
In our research, we focus on long-haul city-to-city routes between major global business centers. Both domestic and international routes are covered in our list of tracked and surveyed routes.
What is VoIP?
Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) represents a group of different methods for delivering voice communication over IP networks, as the name suggests.
All said, our research includes voice traffic transported over the international segment of a carrier’s network as either TDM or VoIP. (We no longer distinguish between TDM or VoIP when we analyze international carriage.)
The question of who transports international traffic (carriers) determines whether we count the traffic volumes, not the how (traditional TDM or VoIP switches).
We exclude OTT traffic that relies entirely on the internet to skirt traditional carrier networks completely.
What is OTT Traffic?
Over-the-top (OTT) traffic reaches users directly through the internet, bypassing other conventional methods. This traffic covers content and services delivered directly to users over the internet, bypassing traditional distribution methods like cable, satellite, and broadcast television networks.
Instead of relying on a cable or satellite provider for your TV channels or a traditional phone company for calls, you access these services directly through your internet connection.
Examples of OTT Traffic
While OTT is often associated with modern streaming services, a veritable menagerie of smartphone-based communications applications like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat (Weixin), Viber, Line, KakaoTalk, and Apple’s FaceTime have emerged as genuine threats to the voice industry.
You might be familiar with some of these top examples:
- Video streaming services: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu, YouTube TV
- Music streaming services: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music
- Messaging apps: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram
- Voice over IP (VoIP) services: Skype, Google Meet, Viber
Wholesale vs. Retail Traffic
Our research distinguishes between retail and wholesale traffic, as well as between wholesale and direct traffic.
Retail traffic reflects the total call volumes generated by end users, irrespective of how their service provider routes the call to its destination. All international traffic originates as retail traffic.
Wholesale traffic is traffic routed to its destination via one or more intermediary carriers.
Direct traffic is international traffic that a carrier transports over its own network, and terminates directly with the destination service provider. Direct traffic (also called “bilateral” traffic) requires the carrier to have a direct business relationship with the destination service provider and for the two service providers’ networks to be interconnected.
You can also listen to Senior Research Manager Paul Brodsky discuss our voice research on TeleGeography Explains the Internet, the podcast about the global connectivity business.
