Infonetics Research released excerpts from its annual EMEA Business VoIP Services Leadership Scorecard, which analyzes and ranks the top service providers in the IP Centrex market in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

"In all parts of EMEA, including Africa and the Middle East, we continue to see strong deployments of IP Centrex services. In evaluating the top 10 IP Centrex providers across the region, little has changed in the mix of our list of leaders from 2010. All but three of the providers in our top 10 are incumbent operators, which is reflective of the EMEA landscape, where most providers compete nationally rather than regionally. Mobility continues to be a critical capability as businesses look towards flexibility and integration of services into a single mobile device. Those providers that are focused on FMC (fixed-mobile convergence) capabilities are true stand-outs, notes Diane Myers, directing analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research.

SCORECARD HIGHLIGHTS

• The top EMEA IP Centrex service providers overall are, in no particular order: BT, TDC, and Vodafone
• The top 10 providers are very close to each other in ranking
• There is a growing list of providers close behind the top 10 across Western and Eastern Europe and Africa, signaling continuing strength in IP Centrex across the region
• In EMEA, business VoIP service deployments are coming from competitive operators, mobile operators, and incumbents
• Whereas in North America only a few providers have broken the 100,000-seat mark, the top providers in EMEA are all close to or exceed 100,000 IP Centrex seats